Thundering Floods and Whispering Winds
by JacksonMiracle
Summary: Alice Cullen never thought that she would meet a human she cared for enough to risk everything to save. Then she met Cassandra West, and nothing would ever be the same for the Cullen family again.
1. Meeting Cassandra

**Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a published fanfiction. I have written other fanfics, as well as some original fiction. However, this is the first time that I have ever posted anything this big online. I have worked hard to research all of the concepts that I introduce to the story, and stay true to cannon. However, there are some things that have been modified to fit the story, hence why this is a work of fiction. I am a perfectionist by nature, so if there is anything that you find that is inaccurate or can be improved, please review and let me know. I will not be offended by constructive criticism, however, if all you have to say is negative critique without a suggestion for improvement, then please do not bother to review. If everything goes well with this fanfic, then I will be posting some of my other works.**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable Twilight characters, places, and themes are the property of the awesome Stephanie Meyers. No copyright infringement is intended.**

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Alice Cullen was rarely seen away from her husband, and lifelong mate, the love of her existence, Jasper Cullen. But today was special. Today was Jasper's birthday and Alice was planning a surprise present for the one she loved. It had been a little over a year since Bella Swan Cullen had joined her family in every sense of the word. She had never been happier in all her existence than she had been throughout the past year. While Bella and Edward had continued to get know each other more and more every moment of every day, she and Jasper had been trying out a few of the classes at the local community college. But for the most part, Bella and Edward's miracle child, Renesmee, had monopolized most of the Cullens time. It was fascinating watching her grow and learn at such an accelerated pace. Already, she could pass for a ten year old in appearance, a 15 year old in behavior, and a 40 year old in intelligence. But that's not what Alice should be thinking about right now, she should be thinking the reason she had skipped her afternoon classes, the gift for Jasper was ready.

Walking at a quickened pace from her car to the non-emergency entrance at the Forks Memorial Hospital, Alice blended in nicely with the other humans in the area. It was early December and the air was chilled with a light flurry of snow. No one was aware that her hurried pace had more to do with the excitement she felt than with the cold weather. After all, Alice didn't feel the cold, and if there hadn't been so many people watching, she probably would have been moving much, much faster than the snail's pace she was forced to endure so as not to attract too much attention. Smiling giddily to herself, Alice added a quick skip to her pace, not hindered at all by the high heel designer boots, and modest length skirt she was wearing. Bursting into her adopted father's office on the third floor of the hospital only minutes later, Alice could no longer contain her excitement and proudly exclaimed, "It came, Carlise! I know it did! I saw it." Bouncing over to the desk, Alice gingerly leaned forward across the wooden structure to look Carlise in the eye. "Where is it, Carlise? I didn't see where you hid it thanks to Professor Jones and her silly question about the Russian Revolution. Anyway, I can't wait to give it to Jasper! I know he's going to love it!" She grinned broadly at her adopted father, allowing a small sparkle to gleam in the corner of one of her golden eyes.

Carlise looked up from the report he was working on at the sound of his adopted daughter bouncing into his office. He chuckled to himself as he heard her exclamation. The excitement Alice was radiating would be impossible to miss and he didn't have to have Jasper's ability to feel it or to be infected by it. Nor did he have to have Edward's ability and read her mind to know exactly what she was thinking at that very moment. Unable to prevent his own grin from spreading across his face, Carlise bent over and reached into the bottom drawer of his desk. Sitting back upright, he presented Alice with a small rectangular box. "I know he'll love it too, Alice, and I don't even have to see the future to know it."

Alice snatched the box from Carlise's hand in a flash, no longer worried about anyone seeing her abnormal speed. The gesture wouldn't bother Carlise. What would be perceived as rudely grabbing the object of one's desires to a human, seemed like a simple handoff to the Cullen family. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for letting me get it shipped here. I couldn't risk Jasper receiving it, and Emmett would have told him, if he had received it…" She said it all so fast, it would have sounded like a hiss to normal human ears, but Carlise would understand every word.

"You're welcome." Carlise said at a normal speed, as he watched Alice hurriedly open the box, inspect its contents and re-close the box so perfectly no one would ever be able to tell that it had been opened before.

"It's perfect!" Alice breathed when she saw the object up close. "Just like I knew it would be."

Carlise studied his daughter for a quick second, made a decision and opened his mouth to speak. In the same instant, Alice forced herself to calm down enough to take a seat across from his desk. He chuckled to himself at the quick response time between his decision to speak and Alice foreseeing that they would have more of a conversation than a simple hello and goodbye. "Alice, I know we've had this talk before, but are you still convinced that your visions aren't some form of self-fulfilling prophecy? For example, just now, you knew Jasper's gift would be perfect, and yet you inspected it anyway. I'm willing to bet that you had a vision of yourself opening that box and looking at the gift. Are you sure you would have acted the same, if you hadn't had that vision? I'm guessing you probably wouldn't have."

"You're right Carlise. We have had this conversation before." Alice started with a laugh. "And my answer hasn't changed. I'm still relatively sure that the visions adjust themselves to account for any self-fulfilling prophecy effect. If I was going to decide not to open the box when I saw the vision of the perfect gift, then I wouldn't have had the vision. And my decisions can't be based solely on the visions, because then I wouldn't have a vision of the action, until I had a vision of the action to prompt my decision. I don't know how else to explain it. I just think there's more to it than I see a vision and purposefully orient myself in the direction it indicates. My decisions, just like everyone else's decisions are based on independent data. I just have a little extra data thanks to the visions. In this case, I was so excited to see the perfection, that I couldn't help myself. And yes, part of the excitement was because I had a vision of the perfection, but in that vision, Jasper was opening the box, not me. The one with me opening it came later, after the excitement had a chance to build. Thus, this praticular vision and my subsequint actions do not fit the criteria of a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Carlise tilted his head to one side, amazingly understanding and following everything the bubbly, rambling Alice just said. "I see…" he said in a tone that even a human would have thought was slow. "I just worry about you, Alice." The doctor knew how to choose his words carefully so he wouldn't offend the girl.

"Don't. Carlise. We've had that discussion before too. You don't need to worry about me."

"Oh, don't I?" Carlise asked with one eyebrow raised, remembering a time not all that long ago when Alice had been mislead by one of her visions. It had caused a lot of confusion and nearly gotten three of the members of his family killed. But he didn't dwell on those dark thoughts for long.

Alice simply rolled her eyes knowing exactly what Carlise was referring to. "One time. Once. That's it. Besides, I learned a valuable lesson and I don't draw conclusions that quickly anymore. And I'm definitely not opening my mouth about visions until I have more details as often as I did before that."

"I know Alice. I'm sorry I brought it up. It's just that something doesn't feel quite right about everything just now. It's difficult to explain. I've never had premonitions before. And certainly not this strong, but something is going on and I can't help but think it has something to do with your visions. Just promise me you'll be careful. And don't do anything rash."

Alice gave Carlise a concerned look for a minute, searching into the near future to attempt to discover something that would be causing his unease. Coming up empty, she sighed needlessly, and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'll be careful. As long as the wolves aren't involved, I'll see anything coming long before it happens. We'll all be fine. I promise."

"Don't make a promise that you can't keep, Alice. It would break Esme's heart, so to speak." The doctor countered.

"Right. I'll be careful. That I can promise." Alice said with a serious smile. She would never do anything to hurt a member of her family, especially Esme. After a fractional pause, Alice looked to the doorway of the office as a vision of a nurse needing Dr. Cullen's help filled her mind. "I should go now." She said simply.

"I'll see you at home. I won't be late." Carlise said as Alice rose to take her leave.

She paused for an instant, smiled, and nodded at him. "No, you won't." She confirmed easily.

As Alice headed for the elevator, she couldn't help contemplating Carlise's warning. He had never shown any tendency toward a special talent the way she, Jasper, Edward, and Bella had, except for his uncanny ability to resist blood, and even then, Bella had shown a very similar resistance. Shaking her head, Alice tried to clear her thoughts of Carlise, so she could focus on the future and discern if there was any need for her to use extra caution or if it was a needless worry. Before she could get a fix on her mixed visions, Alice was distracted by a quick movement out of the corner of her eye. Reacting on instinct, Alice reached out to catch the bouncing object. Opening her hand to stare at the bright pink ball, she didn't notice the young girl approach. "Wow!" The girl child said in awe as she studied Alice. "That was great! Amazing! You were so fast!"

If Alice could have blushed, she would have. It wasn't like her to be so distracted she would make the mistake of not controlling her reflexes. "Instinct." She said quickly with a shrug. "Is this your ball?" Alice continued when the girl nodded. "It's very pretty." She wished she could remember if she ever had a toy like the rubber bouncy ball when she was a child, before she had been locked away in the asylum, after all she couldn't have always lived there. This wasn't the first time that Alice had wondered such things, and the incident with James when she learned of her human past had only prompted more speculation.

"Are you suppose to be here?" She asked suddenly when the girl's appearance finally registered with her. Why hadn't she noticed the hospital gown before? She really wasn't as focused as she should be. Carlise's warning invaded her thoughts again, and Alice blinked a few times to get it out of her head so she could focus on the girl.

Cassandra West hesitated slightly before answering the beautiful older girl. "Well, normally I stay on the fifth floor, but sometimes the nurses let me come down here because the hallways are bigger and less crowded, so I have more room to play with my ball." She began.

"Ah." Alice said with understanding, and after a tense second she forced herself to visibly relax. There was no point in frightening the child who had been so fascinated by her a moment before. "I'm Alice. My dad is Dr. Cullen. You know, you really should be a bit more careful about where this ball bounces." She told the girl with a smile, and handed the pink object back to its owner.

"Sorry." She said with an apologetic smile as she accepted the ball back. "I'm Cassandra. I don't think I know Dr. Cullen. I usually see Dr. Milligan whenever I'm here."

Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place for Alice and she couldn't stop the gasp from escaping her lips. Thankfully, she managed to make it quiet enough that Cassandra's human ears wouldn't be able to pick it up. Fifth floor. Dr. Milligan. Terminal leukemia. It was an easy diagnosis given the details and observations Alice had made. She forced a smile for the child's sake. "Why don't I see you back to your room Cassandra?" She offered trying to stay friendly.

"Ok." Cassandra said in agreement. She reached out to take Alice's hand with a smile and without a second of hesitation. "You know, it usually takes people a lot longer to figure it out."

"Figure out what?" Alice asked, hesitantly taking the child's hand, shocked when Cassandra didn't pull away at the cold touch.

"Figure out what's wrong with me. Or ask me. But you knew as soon as I mentioned Dr. Milligan."

Alice mentally cringed. She had tried so hard to mask her reaction, but something must have shown on her face just the same. Either that or Cassandra was abnormally perceptive for a human child. "Well, it helps that I know his field of expertise." Alice said absently, following Cassandra's lead and keeping the serious topic as light as she could.

"Oh. What's it like?"

"What?"

"Being a doctor's kid. What's it like? I mean, knowing exactly what's wrong with someone as soon as you know how the nurses treat them, what floor they're staying on, and the name of their doctor."

Alice hadn't even considered the fact that the nurses were allowing the child to play on the administration offices floor. "Well," she began not sure exactly how to answer the question without sounding too weird. Alice chose to simply answer on instinct, like she did in most uncomfortable situations, when any other actions and words would seem severely awkward. "I'm use to it, I guess."

Cassandra shrugged in answer. "You don't have to come with me back to my room you know. I know the way just fine."

"I have no doubt about that. But my dad wouldn't be very happy with me if he found out that I just left you."

"Oh." It didn't take long for the pair to reach Cassandra's room once the elevator deposited them on the fifth floor. "Bye, Alice. Come visit me any time." The younger of the two offered before they separated.

"I can't make any promises, but I'll try to come visit and check up on you when I can." Alice said with a smile as she watched Cassandra disappear into her room.

As soon as Alice was sure that she was alone in the suddenly too narrow hallway, she threw herself against the opposite wall, and slid her body down to the floor in a very human gesture. She half hissed, half growled, before burring her aching head into her palms. The visions of several possible futures bombarded her without warning and without respite. The episode lasted for several long minutes and left Alice breathless and panting. This moment, this chance meeting, it was the catalyst Carlise had warned Alice about without knowing it. And she had been so busy searching for danger that it had snuck up on her. This was a danger much greater than the Volturi, and much greater than even the wolves, the danger of a simple human girl child. This wasn't what it was like with Bella. With her it had been easy. Bella wasn't dying, she was destined to become one of them. But Cassandra was fated to die, and she was too young to be turned. Even if she was old enough, Carlise had promised never to do it again. He almost did for Bella, for Edward, but that was different. He would never turn Cassandra. Humans were born to die. The Cullens were unnatural, they defied all the conventional rules. Cassandra would never be a Cullen unless Alice found a way to turn her herself. But Alice quickly discounted the unbidden thought. She could never do that. Besides, even if Alice could manage to change Cassandra without killing her, it didn't solve the problem of the child being so young. Unlike Renesmee, there would be no escape from the Volturi for Cassandra. She was going to be forced to die, just like a normal human. In the 80 plus years of existence that Alice remembered, she had seen human death plenty of times, even been the cause of it on more than one occasion. So why did Cassandra's human death seem to bother her so much? She had only known the girl child for a few short minutes, but already something inside of Alice's unbeating heart had been triggered, some forgotten or long buried emotion had been stoked like the dying embers of a fire. She was changing, she could feel it, and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not. Jasper. She had to get to Jasper. He could help. If anything, at least he could manipulate her emotions enough to stop the flood of unwanted and confusing visions. If she couldn't find Jasper, then she would find a wolf. Their strange quality of keeping her visions at bay was their one and only good use as far as Alice was concerned, at least when she didn't want the headache of watching too many futures at the same time.

Pulling herself to her feet, Alice winced at the damaged wall behind her. She would have to tell Carlise about that and pay to fix it from her savings. At least that was one good thing about living forever, you never ran out of money because it always kept rebuilding itself with each new business venture. Her last dress shop earned enough profit to build an entire hospital, so the one repair on the one wall wouldn't even leave a mark. Money had no meaning to Alice.

It was agonizing for Alice to move at a human pace as she made her way out of the hospital and to her car. Once in her car, she would be free to move as fast as she pleased. Quickly checking to make sure she wouldn't be caught, Alice pushed the gas pedal to the carpeted floorboard of the car. The speed helped, it always did, and in a very short time she was pulling into the Cullen's oversized garage. Rosalie was there as usual, tinkering with Emmet's Jeep. "Hey Rose. Jasper inside?"

"You have to ask?" The blonde countered.

Alice thought for a minute, then answered confidently, "Nope." She smiled as she saw herself running into Jasper's arms in his study. Running to her love's study at top speed, a blur to the human eye, Alice's vision became reality in less than a second.

"What's wrong, honey? What is it?" Jasper asked concerned as the wave of overwhelming emotion crashed over him when Alice flew into his arms. He fought the urge to send a wave of calm to her in response. Alice didn't like it when he manipulated her emotions without asking first. It interfered with her visions, she had told him once.

Alice could only shake her head as she wrapped her arms around Jasper's waist and buried her head in his chest. Jasper wouldn't break like the wall had and he wouldn't get tired of holding her up. If Alice could cry, she would. "Help me." She whispered quietly, desperately, so that only Jasper would be able to hear her.

He didn't have to ask. Whatever had happened had upset, hurt, Alice so much that now she was begging him to take away her visions, take away her real emotions, help assuage the pain, and replace it with something, anything, else. Jasper did as she asked, absorbing all the various emotions that radiated off her small body and sent only love and calm to his wife. They stood together, a bubble of love, cam, trust, comfort, and hope, for what seemed like hours. Maybe it was only minutes, but it felt like so much longer and there was an unspoken promise between them to not let each other go forever. "Thank you." Alice said in the same small whisper as her visions came to an abrupt halt.

"That wasn't me. I mean, I'm helping, but I don't have full manipulative control over your emotions yet. So, if your visions are gone then it wasn't me." Jasper told her reluctantly. As much as he wanted to claim responsibility for taking away her pain, he couldn't lie to her. All he had been able to do for her was keep her calm and focused, ease the impact of the troubling visions that he knew plagued her despite not being told the content of those visions. "Jacob's here. It was him." He confessed almost silently.

"How?" Alice croaked with a bewildered expression.

"I feel the emotional side of his imprinting every time he thinks about Renesmee and I'm getting a pretty strong reading right now. I can always feel that before I smell him."

Slowly tearing herself away from Jasper, Alice gave him a curious look. "Does Bella know that? That you can actually feel the imprinting?"

Jasper grinned slightly. "No. And Edward promised not to tell her. He was a little creeped out by how intense the imprinting is and he doesn't want to freak Bella out by it."

"Wait. You let Edward hear _that_? Did you broadcast it to him as well?" She used her pet name for the emotional manipulation Jasper had been gifted with.

"I…It slipped. But Edward said that it was ok, he'd already been reading Jacob out of curious protectiveness. It still bothers him a little, but I think he's started to accept it." Jasper admitted. In fact, he knew a lot better than the rest of the family just how well Edward had accepted the truth of Jacob and Renesmee. His anger was considerably lower than it use to be when Jacob was around and his trust had increased exponentially. His protectiveness of his daughter was at an all time high, but his faith in Jacob was just as high.

"Well, this is one time I'm not going to fight him. Let's go say hello." Alice was doing a lot better now that the visions had disappeared, but Jasper still gripped her hand like the world would shatter if their connection broke.

Alice glided down the stairs with Jasper right beside her. She forced a smile as she saw Jacob talking to Bella in the living room. Taking an unnecessary breath, Alice couldn't stop the laugh as a flood of unpleasent odors assaulted her senses. "Well, I can't say that the cheap cologne did much to mask your stench." She told Jacob.

"Ha. Ha." The Quileute boy responded sarcastically. "I'll just take Renesmee out today if that's the way you feel."

"No! I mean, it's ok. I'll deal with it." Alice really didn't want the dog to leave. No matter how bad he smelled, at least he kept the visions away. "Besides, what would you do if you went out? Renesmee and I went hunting yesterday and it's too cold for her to be out for any other reason." She argued logically.

The thought of Renesmee being cold convinced Jacob. He knew that he would be able to keep her plenty warm, but if the leech wanted him to stay that bad, then he would. He turned back to Bella, "I won't wake her, Bells. I'll just sit with her. We can play with her puzzles when she does wake up. Didn't you say you got that thousand piece one of the Eiffel tower that she wanted?"  
"Yes, I did. It's in the top of her closet. Thanks, Jake." Bella said with a smile for her best friend.

Jacob gave Alice a playfully mean look as he passed her on his way up the stairs to see Renesmee. But when Alice didn't return the glare, Jacob started to understand the reason behind her speech about it being too cold to play outside. The only time that Alice didn't return that look was when she was fighting a vision, a vision that she didn't want to have, a vision that evaporated in his presence.

"So, Bella, are you going to help me put up the decorations, or did Edward convince you to go with him to pick up the tree?" Alice smiled at her own ironic imagery. She had already seen that Edward could pick up the perfect tree with a single hand and not damage any of the branches. "And don't give me any of that 'I can't decorate,' stuff because that only applies to humans. I bet you're a great decorator now."

"Ok. I'll help." Bella said with a laugh that was almost as musical as Alice's. "What should I do first?"

"First we get the decorations out of the basement. Jazz, honey, I think I'll be ok now. Why don't you go tree hunting with Edward and Emmett and give Bella and I a chance to talk." She said, turning to her silent lover.

"You sure?" Jasper asked concerned. "I can stay and help you. Decorate, that is."

The pause in his speech was subtle enough that human ears would never have been able to hear it, but Bella had. She now looked between Alice and Jasper for an instant before drawing her conclusions. "So that's why you wanted Jacob to stay. How bad is it, Alice? The Volturi? Charlie?" Those were the only two things that she could think of that would have Alice begging for relief from her visions.

Alice just shook her head, refusing to answer. "Don't worry Bella, you aren't part of it. It's just me. Something I'll have to deal with. And it's not threatening to my existence." She told her concerned sister. It wasn't the entire truth. If she had to watch Cassandra die…a girl who could have been her daughter…No, Alice refused to think like that. Rosalie already thought like that enough for the entire family. It had been different since Renesmee had been born, but occasionally Rose still looked at children in the park with a wistful intent.

Bella stared at her curiously for a second before speaking. "I don't believe you." She announced. Bella had gotten too good at being able to tell when one of the Cullens was telling a lie, even Edward, the best liar of all of them.

"Just trust me, Bella. Now, let's find those decorations." Alice knew exactly where the boxes marked "Christmas" and "Holiday" were in the basement, but it would give her something to focus on besides Cassandra.

"Distractions won't work. We will come back to this." Bella promised.

Alice knew that from the look on Jasper's face, he would want to be part of the conversation when she finally revealed her visions. To not tell Jasper meant that it was much more serious than what she was pretending, and the whole family would be able to make that connection. Maybe she should just tell him now, and avoid pressure from everyone else. Once Jasper knew the truth of her visions, the rest of the family would know they didn't have to get her to talk about it. Jasper would tell everyone else if it was something they needed to know.

Ignoring Bella's promise and her own mixed thoughts, Alice leaned in to kiss Jasper lightly on the cheek and wished him good luck in finding the perfect Christmas tree. "And don't forget about tonight." She added mischievously before gliding away from him and Bella and toward the basement stairs.

Alice was very aware of the passage of time as she and Bella started decorating the Cullen house. Jacob never spent more than five hours with Renesmee. That's all the time he could spare away from the pack. The closer it got to the five hour mark, the more nervous Alice felt. The decorations were now almost complete, aside from the few choice tasks she was saving for the boys. Carlise had gotten home right on time just like he had promised, and was in his study with Esme. Jasper, Edward and Emmett still weren't back from their tree finding expedition. The best trees were always in Canada, but Alice had insisted that they wouldn't have to run that far. Not that it was really that far, but it would take extra time, too much time. She didn't want Jasper to be away from her for that long. Unfortunately, since the guys weren't back yet, she had a feeling that they hadn't heeded her advice, and had run to Canada anyway, but without her visions, she didn't know anything for sure. And she had promised not to call them unless it was really important.

"Hey, Bells, Alice, I have to go." Jacob announced as he came down the stairs into the living room exactly five hours after he had made the opposite journey. He glanced at Alice seriously for a moment before continuing. "I can send Seth by, if you want me to." His voice was full of concern, nothing else, just a genuine sense of caring.

Bella opened her mouth to assure him that they would be fine without wolf supervision, but Alice beat her to the punch, knowing the real reason for Jacob's offer. "Actually, yes, Jacob, that would be great. Tell Seth we would appreciate it."

"Ok, I will. And I'll stick close by until he gets here." Jacob hesitated, debating about taking a step forward to hug the two girls goodbye or not. Finally, he decided not to and instead spun on his heel to exit.

"Thank you, Jacob." Alice whispered slowly knowing that Jacob would hear her anyway. The tension that still existed between the wolves and the Cullens was getting less and less every day. Terms like 'dog' and 'leech' had become less frequent and were said with more of a teasing tone than a hurtful tone, but somehow the two groups still couldn't call themselves friends, the type of friends that would hug to say goodbye.

Bella scrunched up her eyebrows as she considered the interaction between Jacob and Alice. "Oh." She said as the realization hit her. "Look, Alice, you're going to have to face the visions eventually."

"I know. I'm just not ready yet." Alice hurriedly explained, brushing off the comment.

"Tell me about the visions, Alice. It'll help."

"No. Not yet, Bella. No offense. I'm just not ready." Alice didn't shut her out to be mean, but she couldn't help feeling a little selfish. Maybe she should share her visions and she knew Bella would understand how she felt about Cassandra, but if Alice was going to share these visions with anyone other than Jasper, of course, it would have to be Carlise. After all, Carlise was the only one who could do anything about it. And if he couldn't change the future of the visions, then she didn't want to dwell on them any longer than she had to. Jasper's comfort would be enough to get her through it, at least she hoped it would be, and only if she didn't think about it too hard or for too long.

Before Bella had a chance to push the issue any further, the front door swung loudly open, and Emmett's voice boomed throughout the Cullen home. "Did someone order a Christmas tree? Extra large with full branches, and bright green needles?"

Alice clapped her hands together and grinned as she carefully inspected every inch of the tree that the three boys had chosen. It was perfect. "It's great! I hope you didn't go all the way to Canada for it. No matter. You did exceptionally well this year, boys. Let's set it up over here." She announced excitedly and supervised as Emmett held the tree steady while Edward screwed it into the base and Jasper spread the tree skirt around the bottom. "Excellent! Excellent!" She continued to applaude the progress that the decorations were making. "Edward, your turn to do the tree this year. Remember, we're using the red and white ornaments, and the '57 Angel. Emmett, you're on candle duty. And Jazzy, you can start hanging the bows and wreaths." She ordered the group, and watched pleased as they each started on their assigned tasks.

Later that night, after the decorations had passed final inspection, Alice sat with Jasper in their room. With an excited smile, she presented him with the rectangular box that held his birthday gift. "Happy Birthday, Love." She said with another giddy grin.

"Alice, you really shouldn't have." Jasper protested, but Alice knew that it was just out of politeness. Bella was the only one Alice had ever met who truly hated getting presents. Opening one end of the white box, Jasper gasped with surprise and happiness as he saw his gift for the first time. "Alice, this is wonderful!" He gushed.

Inside the box was a small pocket knife. Well, small wasn't entirely accurate. The knife part itself was small, but all the extra accessories the blade came equipped with made the entire object quite large for a pocket knife. "Alice, it really is great! Where did you find it?"

"Germany." She answered honestly. It had taken a month of internet research to find, track down, and order. "It's one of only 200 ever manufactured." She bragged.

"Oh, Alice, I love you!" Jasper exclaimed, overjoyed, and leaned in to kiss his wife. Emotional waves of love, and passion, passed between the couple for several hours as they spent the night together in the only way that seemed appropriate since neither one of them could sleep. At one point during the night, Alice grew serious and told Jasper all about meeting Cassandra and the horrible flood of nightmarish visions that the meeting inspired. He was encouraging, but didn't offer any solutions beyond those that she had already considered.

They were lying together in the early morning hours when Alice sensed that the flood of visions would be returning to her soon. She could no longer smell Seth's presence. "Oh." She moaned as soon as she realized what would be happening soon. Her mind was going to try to play catch up. It always did when she had been around the wolves for any length of time. She gripped Jasper's hand more tightly in anticipation of the flood, but it didn't come like she had expected it to. It was such an unusual occurence that it sparked her curiosity.

"What is it, hon?" Jasper asked concerned.

"It's morning, and Seth's gone. I should be starting to get my visions back." She said simply.

"Do you want me to…" He trailed off, allowing her to fill in the blank for herself.

"No. Um….nothing's happening. At least not yet. I don't see anything."

"Are you sure he's gone then?"

"Take a deep breath." Alice watched as Jasper did as she asked, and realization filled his face. The wet dog smell was strangely absent in the air.

"He didn't say goodbye." Jasper feigned disappointment.

"No, he didn't." Alice was thoughtful for a moment, knowing she wouldn't be able to see whatever the wolves were doing that prompted Seth's departure, but she didn't want to invite any of the other visions inside her head. Then finally, after several tense minutes, she caught a glimmer of something, just at the edge of her mind. The first vision that came back to her was of Carlise. He was walking in the front door of the house, and kissing Esme hello before apologizing for being home so late. "Carlise's going to be home late tonight. He'll be held up talking to Dr. Milligan, but at least they're going to have a breakthrough for…Cassandra." The last part came out as a gasp. Cassandra hadn't known Carlise, so how did Carlise know her, and what was the breakthrough he would be telling Esme about when he got home late? A million thoughts began to run through Alice's head at once, and they all led back to Carlise. Carlise was the key. He was up to something, and Alice was going to figure out what it was. "I have to go talk to him, Jazz. I'll be back here in time to get ready for class." She told Jasper before leaning over to kiss his lips gently, and then running out the door of their room and down the hall.

Dashing into Carlise's office, Alice met his gaze seriously before speaking. "How are you involved with Cassandra's case?" She demanded.

"I'm not, or at least I wasn't until yesterday. Dr. Milligan asked me for a consultion on her case. We plan to work on it again today." Carlise told her easily. "How do you know about Cassandra?"

"I met her. Yesterday. At the hospital when I came to pick up Jasper's gift, which he loved by the way." She rambled.

"I'm glad that Jasper liked it. But back to Cassandra. You know what's wrong with her?" Carlise concluded, but waited to have it confirmed by Alice before continuing.

"Well, Milligan specializes in cancer. She's on the fifth floor. It doesn't take a genius to know what's wrong with her. Terminal leukemia, right?"

"Not exactly. It's a little bit more complicated and more rare than a basic leukemia. In fact, Milligan hasn't ever seen anything like it before. That's why he brought me in as a consultant. He thought that maybe I would see something that he didn't see like I so often do. Alice, Cassandra is…she's very sick. And if she survives…"

Alice interrupted, already seeing a spark of hope in what Carlise was saying. "If she survives, but she's on the 5th floor. Terminal patients. If she has any chance at survival…"

Carlise held up a hand to silence Alice. "Don't get too excited. Terminal simply means that survival isn't likely, but miracles do still happen. We just don't expect one in Cassandra's case. We hope to be able to give her a slightly higher chance of surviving, but it'll take time, and right now…. Anyway, if she survives, she'll never have a normal human life. I think that's why you felt so drawn to her and her to you and why you can't get her out of your head."

"Wait, how did you know all of that? About us being drawn to each other and me not being able to get her out of my head?"

"The same way I knew that something significant would happen to you yesterday." Carlise paused as if trying to decide if he should continue to tell Alice the entire story. "It's acutually a rather long explanation, but I think that you're ready to hear it. We can come back to Cassandra in a minute, because there is still more to discuss that concerns her. But it will help if you know this next part first. Renesmee has changed the way I think about us. I've spent so much of my existence studying human medicine and physiology, that I haven't really studied us as much as I should have been. I've been trying to remedy that for the past few months and I have made some incredible discoveries."

"The attic lab. Esme said you were spending a lot more time there lately."

"Yes, I've been experimenting on myself. Edward's been helping. I haven't been able to tell the rest of you about it because I wasn't sure how you'd all react to the news. But now I know that you at least will be ok with it."

"What sort of experiments, Carlise? You aren't making much sense."

The doctor took a deep, unneeded, breath before beginning a more detailed explanation of his work for the past few months. "Well, you know that humans have 23 chromosome pairs and thanks to several recent worldwide endeavors, we now know almost exactly what each of those chromosome pairs control and what will happen if we turn on or turn off certain genes within those chomosome pairs." Alice nodded her head in comprehension. She had heard all of this before. "Well I was curious if I could do the same thing for us. I started with the 23 chromosome pairs of ours that are the same as humans, and for the most part, everything they control is identical. Body temperature regulation being the biggest exception I've found so far. In fact, I would wager that during the transformation process, our original chromosomes are perfected to fix any problems such as acne or other physical and mental imperfections. The chromosomes would then be frozen just like everything else to prevent any random manipulations from certain genes turning on or off in response to environmental elements. Anyway, I've focused most of my research on the extra two chromosome pairs we possess. One of the two controls things that are more or less equal between all of us, such as speed, and strength. The other is for controlling an individual's special abilities, like yours and Edward's." Carlise paused for a brief instant, trying to find the best way to word the next part of his explanation. "I discovered that, in Edward's case at least, only a small portion of the 25th chromosome pair is activated. I've been activating small parts of my own 25th chromosome pair to discover how it affects different abilities. I think I found a way to combine several abilities into one. If it continues to work as well for me as it has been so far, Edward's agreed to let me try manipulating his. Of course, it will be different for him, since he already has a pre-existing ability. Hopefully, that ability won't change no matter what I do. The process of gene manipulation for us is much more difficult than it is for humans. Since we aren't suppose to change, it's like going through the transformation all over again. It doesn't last as long, obviously, but it's very painful. Anytime you mess with someone's genes, ours or a human's, you're asking for trouble, but I have a feeling this research is too important to ignore. It's worth the risk to me."

"Wow. Carlise. The implications of this are incredible." Alice started in awed excitement, forgetting for the moment that she should be upset with Carlise and Edward for keeping this from her. "If you could turn on the right parts of the 25th chromosome pair, maybe Edward would be able to read past thoughts like Aro can. And maybe, I would be able to see through the wolves and Renesmee. This is incredible, Carlise, you have to experiment on me too! I don't mind the pain, really, not if it means being able to see beyond the wolves."

"Woah, woah, slow down, Alice. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I still have many more experiments to run on myself before we can even begin to think like that. I'm nowhere close to being able to understand all of it. And I do still need to investigate the first 23 chromosome pairs in more detail. This was only my first trial to determine if it was possible to turn on abilities that one of us wouldn't normally possess. I don't have any idea how this will work out in the long run. I could be decades away from any real progress. I will have to keep studying human medicine as well to keep up our cover. I'll keep in mind your offer, but I thought that you were more concerned about Cassandra at the moment. And now that you know about this first long term project concerning our physiology, I can tell you about a second long term project that I've been working on since before I changed Edward, and it is ready to be tested. It's a project that may actually be of some use in helping Cassandra." Carlise paused to make sure that Alice had calmed down enough for him to continue. "I have a theory on how to help her. We'll have to use a combination of radiation and venom. Diluted venom, of course, so that it won't change her. That's where my second project comes in. Edward and I have been working for some time now on the practical implications of our venom as a healing agent. As long as it's diluted enough, we've found that it can be quite effective. At least in theory."

"I just can't believe the two of you have been working on all these secret projects and I haven't seen any of it. The wolves aren't here that often." Alice was starting to show a little of her anger and resentment at not being included before this.

"We've been…careful." Alice crossed her arms in frustrated disgust, but refrained from interrupting again. "Cassandra will be the first practical test, and therefore, we'll have to plan very carefully for it, and we'll need you to watch the situation very closely. We can't risk having anything go wrong. I don't like playing Russian roulette with Cassandra's life, and I'm hoping that you'll be able to help take a lot of the guess work out of it. I wouldn't try it at all, but there's just something about the way the Leukemia is progressing that makes me think that it will work. We could go up to my lab and I could explain all of this in more detail to you." He knew that Alice would be able to understand the science behind his theory as well as any doctor. After all, she had been studying medicine off and on for nearly 50 years. All of his children had attended medical school at least once.

Alice thought through her answer for a minute before responding. "No, that's ok. I trust you. If you say it'll work, then I believe you."

"There is one more thing. If it doesn't work, if for some reason something goes wrong, and she starts to change, then I'll be forced to euthanize her. I can't let her survive unless she remains fully human."

"No! You can't do that! I won't let you!"

"She's too young, Alice!" Although he didn't raise his voice, Carlise's words came out a lot stronger than he had intended.

"I know that. But you can't just kill her." Alice said sadly. "If her changing, even just a little, is a possibility, then maybe you shouldn't try. It's too much of a risk. If you can help her, then do it. But if you can't or you only think you can, then don't. Just let the Leukemia run its course."

"Alice, you don't understand. If I let the cancer run its course, she'll be left with a fate that's worse than death. It's better to at least try helping her, and if it doesn't work, then give her the gift of eternal rest."

"What do you mean, a fate worse than death?" Alice was a little unnerved by Carlise's words.

"You're familiar with the creatures of Haiti." It was a statement, not a question, but Carlise waited for Alice to nod her understanding anyway.

"You mean zombies?"

"Yes, and no. You see, the Haitian people believe that the soul can be separated from the body. A zombie is created when a witch doctor steals someone's soul. The person's belief in the witch doctor's power over his or her soul is so strong, that he or she literally becomes a vacant shell. Everything seems to indicate that if Cassandra's leukemia continues to act the way that it has been so far, she'll become an empty shell. She'll end up with massive brain damage, and every day will be a struggle for her. For all intents and purposes, she'll become a zombie, unable to function independently, soulless. I can't allow that to happen to her. Either Cassandra dies or I euthanize her, there is no other way. And I can't in good conscience euthanize her without at least trying the venom theory. It's her only chance. The diluted venom shouldn't lead to a transformation. Do you understand what I'm saying Alice?"

Alice swallowed hard, then met Carlise's eyes. "Yes, I understand. And I'll help any way I can. I can't let her go through the treatment alone, and if it comes to it, I'll be prepared to euthanize her myself. It is better than the alternative, I suppose." Alice vowed, knowing that Cassandra didn't deserve to have any of this happen to her. She knew that it was best to follow Carlise's lead and keep Cassandra from a life as a mindless zombie, and from the wrath of the Volturi, should she begin to change.

"I hope you can keep that promise," Carlise whispered to himself as he watched Alice turn away and drift out of the room.

* * *

**Author's Note: Yes, I have introduced a lot of story lines, and yes, I know which ones I will use, and which ones I will spend less time expanding. I have a general outline for the rest of the story and may eventually take part of it and turn it into a sequal instead of keeping it all together. Everything will be explained in time, so just be patient. In the mean time, please review, and I'll work on getting the second chapter ready for posting. **


	2. Promises and Revelations

Alice wasn't sure what she was expecting two days later as she walked toward Dr. Milligan's office. She had promised Carlise that she would check in with the other doctor before going to visit Cassandra again. She would have come back much sooner, but her classes kept her busy, and Jasper had made her promise not to go visit the girl every day like Edward had with Bella. "Didn't you learn anything from Edward, Alice? The more time he spent watching Bella, the more he fell in love with her, and the harder it was for him to be away from her. I don't want to see you or feel you go through everything that he did when this girl dies. Maybe you should just stay out of it. There's no rule that says you have to take any role in her life just because you caught her ball and walked her back to her room, and then had a vision about her. A vision, I might add, that had you as close to tears as you can get." he had told her the previous evening.

"Ugh! There are just so many things wrong with what you just said, Jazz. First, 'this girl' has a name, it's Cassandra. Second, this is nothing like Edward and Bella. I feel like a big sister to Cassandra, nothing more. I don't love her the way that Edward loves Bella. Third, it's hard to watch anyone die regardless of how you feel about them. And besides, there's no garuntee that Cassandra will die. Carlise has spent two and a half days now trying to prevent that, and he's making some real progress. And furthermore you should know me well enough to know that I would never get entangled in a human's life without fully thinking it through first. This has nothing to do with a vision and everything to do with the fact that Cassandra is a child who is dying and who is being forced to spend a large part of her final days in a hospital. Oh, and if you don't want to feel this, then I suggest that you spend the next few nights next door in your study alone." Alice knew that her last words were a little extreme and would probably earn her a good ribbing from Emmett for sending her husband to sleep on the couch, so to speak. But she didn't know what else to tell him. She loved Jasper deeply, but if he couldn't accept this part of who she was, then she would rather him leave the room than argue with him all night.

Jasper sucked in a lung full of air and closed his eyes against the anger that he felt radiating off Alice. He hated fighting with her, and they rarely did so, but when they did, it got ugly fast. "I'm sorry, Alice. I didn't mean for this to turn into a fight. I know that you love Cassandra, and know that it's a different love than how Edward loves Bella, it was a bad comparison. I won't make it again. I'm ok feeling this if it means that I'm spending time with you. I'm still not completely ok with this, but you and I have learned to compromise on a lot of things and live with each despite our seperate opinions, so let's not fight over this either. I trust you to spend time with Cassandra and monitor the big picture of your interaction with her. But, I want you to promise to trust me and to listen to me if I tell you that you're getting too close to her. If I call you out on your relationship with Cassandra, then I want to know that you'll trust me enough to back off a little. Can you do that?"

Alice was silent for a full minute, and Jasper felt her slowly calming down, and then he felt her agreement. "Ok, I trust you, and I'll listen to you." She promised in a whisper before leaning in to kiss Jasper on the cheek. "I need to go for a run. I'll take Edward with me, so you don't have to worry about me being alone. I'll see you back here in a few hours."

"Ok. I'll see you then, and don't forget that we're going hunting tomorrow night after your visit with Cassandra. We'll both feel a lot better after we eat." He said quietly and returned the kiss, but this time making contact with Alice's soft ruby lips. He sighed to himself as Alice ran off, and a moment later could be seen dashing into the woods with Edward through the windowed wall of their bedroom.

Alice finally reached the office she had been looking for and taped lightly on the doorframe to announce her presence, but didn't wait for a response before continuing through the doorway. Most of the doctors in the Forks Hospital were on good terms with most of the Cullen kids, so Alice was comfortable with her casual entrance. "Dr. Milligan," Alice greeted the older doctor as she danced happily into his office. "Is it ok if I go visit with Cassandra for a few minutes? My dad made me promise to ask you first, and I promise I won't get her too excited or anything."

Milligan looked up from the file in front of him and frowned as he studied Alice. "I don't know if that's such a good idea. It hasn't been the easiest week for her."

"Please. I won't stay that long. I promise. I just wanted to say hi to her."

"Cullen mentioned that you wouldn't take no for an answer." He mumbled to himself, but Alice heard every word and from his inflection, it wasn't hard for her to infer the meaning behind his words. Dr. Milligan sat down the ink pen he was still holding with a sigh and met Alice's gaze. "I'll make you a deal. I'll let you see her if you agree to do me a favor. Cassandra's scheduled for a radiation treatment today. The regimen that Cullen came up with actually. I need someone to sit with her during the treatment. Normally I would ask a nurse, but someone called in today and there aren't enough nurses on staff as it is. You don't have to have any medical knowledge to sit with her, but you will have to wear one of those uncomfortable radiation vests. Anyway, I just don't have the time to do it myself, and since you are Cullen's daughter and Cassandra seems to like you, it's a logical request." In fact, it was the only thing that Cassandra had talked about for the past two days. Did Dr. Milligan know Dr. Cullen's daughter, Alice? Could he call her for her? Did he know when she was going to be at the hospital next? Would he tell her that she had asked about her? Then, Cullen himself had brought up the idea of letting his daughter, Alice, sit with Cassandra during her treatments. Something was going on here that Dr. Milligan didn't know about.

Alice didn't wait for Milligan to finish before she was jumping for joy at the opportunity. Carlise had probably planted the thought in Milligan's head, but Alice gave the other doctor full credit for the plan. "Yes! Absolutely yes! Of course I'll do it. And you won't have to worry about the vest one bit. I'll deal with it." In truth, the vest was completely unnecessary, but she couldn't tell him that. "What time's the treatment? I'll make sure Cassandra's totally ready for it when the time comes."

"It's at 2:00." Milligan said, still shocked by Alice's quick agreement and excitement about his plan.

Alice pretended to look at her watch as she calculated the 47 minutes and 13 seconds she would have with Cassandra until 2:00. "Great! Thank you, Dr. Milligan. We'll see you at two. You're the best!"

Milligan was taken aback by the girl's praise, but didn't comment as Alice seemingly bounced out of his office.

Alice knew that she should call Carlise during the two and a half minutes it would take her to reach Cassandra's room moving at a human speed. "What do I need to watch for?" She hissed into her phone as soon as Carlise answered.

"I take it that you spoke with Milligan and he took my advice to let you sit with Cassandra during her radiation treatment today." Carlise answered.

"Yes, and since the two of you are making a point of making sure that there's someone there with Cassandra during her treatment, I'm assuming that it's not her regular prescription, and thus there could be some kind of abnormal reaction. Now you have 45 seconds to tell me what to watch for."

"You're right, it's not her usual prescription, but you don't have to watch for anything special. Not this time. There's no venom involved in this treatment session. Trust me, you'll know the instant something's gone wrong, if it does. But it shouldn't. This stage of the radiation treatment is only a slight variation from what she's had before. A little more intense perhaps. You can do one thing though. Milligan isn't so good at the whole bedside manor thing, and often neglects to tell his patients what to expect. So, you might want to warn Cassandra that it might feel a little different."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"I think that covers it. Good luck."

"Thanks!" Alice clicked the phone shut at the same instant that Carlise hung up on his end.

Knocking cautiously on Cassandra's door, Alice glided into the girl's room. "Hey Cassandra, I heard through the grapevine that this hasn't been your best week and I thought you could use some company." She bubbled in as cherry a voice as she could.

"Alice!" Cassandra grinned widely, trying and failing to sit up on her bed. "I didn't think I'd see you again. I've been asking Dr. Milligan about you, and then your dad, Dr. Cullen, came by and I asked him about you, too, and he said that he thought you would be by sometime soon, but I didn't know if he was telling me the truth or not. He looks way too young to be a doctor, and your father, for that matter." The girl said everything in a rush, causing Alice to laugh in her wind chime voice.

"Slow down, relax, Cassandra. I told you I'd be by, didn't I? And he is too young, I'm adopted."

"Oh, that makes sense. If you hadn't shown, it wouldn't have been the first time someone broke their promise."

Alice's tone turned sympathetic. "Well, I don't break my promises."

"I'm glad." Cassandra's smile was slightly happier now.

"May I?" Alice asked indicating the medical chart at the foot of Cassandra's bed. "My dad's been trying to get me to become a doctor ever since he took me in when I was about your age, and I'm really fascinated by all things some of the nurses write on these."

"Go ahead I don't mind."

Alice picked up the chart and skimed in quickly. Cassandra was 12 years old. Her temperature had held steady the past few days, but some of her other vital readings had been inconsistent. She replaced the chart on the hook at the end of the bed and gave the girl a huge smile before taking a seat in the plush chair next to the bed. "So, you like to read?" Alice asked nodding at the pile of books on the table between her chair and Cassandra's bed.

"Yep. In fact, I'm reading one right now that I think you'd like." She passed Alice the book on the very top of the pile. Alice barely blinked as she read the title, but didn't comment. "I know what you are." Cassandra admitted.

"And what am I?" Alice had had this talk plenty of times before and was prepared for almost every answer that Cassandra might give her.

"You're a Vampire Angel." The words were simple enough, but this was one time Alice was thankful for her ability to master an expressionless face, she blinked once as her mind started to race. She wasn't prepared for this answer. Finally, she understood the panic that Edward must have felt when Bella first guessed what they were. _How to deny it without telling a lie? That is the question. _"It all fits. All the pieces are there. I'm right, aren't I? You don't have to say anything, I know I am."

"You think I'm a Vampire _Angel_?" Alice checked incredulously, and partly to buy a few minutes of extra time before she would be expected to say something more.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it."

"Impossible. Angelic Vampires don't exist. Vampires are much closer to demons, than they are to angels." Alice said, attempting to cast some doubt on Cassandra's declaration.

"Not all of them. A Vampire Angel doesn't drink human blood. They're nice and they help people instead of killing them. Just like you."

Alice fought to swallow the venom that built up in her mouth at the mention of the word blood. It really had been too long since she and Jasper had hunted. "And what makes you so sure I'm this Vampire Angel you speak of? At least, the angel part?" _Good Alice, make her prove her theory to you. That should keep her off the track long enough for you to come up with a better excuse. _Alice told herself.

"I'm still alive. If you were a normal vampire, you would have killed me already."

"But you're sick. Why would I want to kill someone who's sick?" _More doubt, good_.

"I'm willing to bet that even if there is an imbalance of white blood cells to red blood cells in my body, that I'd still taste as sweet."

The thought of Leukemic blood was anything but appetizing to Alice, and this time she didn't need to swallow a pool of venom at the mention of blood. "I doubt it." She grumbled in response.

"I don't." Cassandra said simply.

The two were quiet for a long while before Alice finally spoke aloud again. "Just because a vampire stays away from human blood doesn't make them angelic." Alice had decided during the silence that she probably wouldn't win the argument, and looking ahead she could see that if she told Cassandra the truth, she wouldn't repeat it to anyone.

"I think it does. Or at least it's a step in the right direction to becoming a Vampire Angel."

Alice opened her mouth to protest, but before she could verbalize her argument, there was a soft knock on the door and a nurse poked her head into the room. "It's almost time for your treatment, Cassandra. Are you ready?" The nurse asked the child politely.

The girl in the bed was disappointed that the nurse had interrupted her conversation with Alice and scrunched up her eyebrows in frustration. The last thing she wanted right now was another radiation treatment. She hated how sick and tired it always made her feel. "No," she answered honestly and a bit harshly. "But it's not like I have a choice." She grumbled as she once again tried and failed to sit up in the bed.

Alice instantly picked up on Cassandra's attitude, and immediately tried to make her feel more at ease. "You know, my dad helped to work up a new treatment plan for you. It might not affect you the same way the other treatments have in the past. I'll even go with you, if you want me to, and sit with you while you get the treatment." The offer seemed to cheer Cassandra, if only minutely. At a glare from the nurse, Alice hurriedly added, "Dr. Milligan's already said that it's ok. Actually, he's the one who suggested it." Alice felt, rather than saw, the nurse roll her eyes at the doctor's crazy idea. "So, what do you say, Cassandra?"

The girl smiled brightly and nodded her head eagerly. "Yes, please come with me, Alice. We can continue our conversation afterward that way. Besides, a different reaction to a different radiation scheme isn't necessarily a good thing. It could be different in a bad way too and it'll be good to have a friend there."

"I'm glad that you consider me that good of a friend, but finishing this conversation will be up to Dr. Milligan. He might want you to rest after your treatment, and I might have to leave so that you can." Alice said seriously as she watched the nurse push a child sized wheelchair into the room to transport Cassandra to her radiation treatment. "I'll help her into the chair." Alice told the nurse, but didn't give her a chance to respond before lifting Cassandra into the wheelchair. The girl was light, a lot lighter than Alice had expected her to be even with her inhuman strength.

Alice allowed the nurse to push Cassandra's wheelchair down the hallway, but followed it closely, keeping her mind open to any possible future complications with the radiation treatment. So far she hadn't seen anything that should cause concern, but that didn't mean she should stop watching. Thanks to all the time Alice had spent in the hospital visiting Carlise, she knew exactly when to stop breathing, and exactly when she could resume breathing as the trio passed the doors marked with a red cross and the words 'blood bank.' Vampire Angel, as Cassandra had put it, or not, Alice couldn't take any risks. And the blood bank always smelled much too sweet. It was a challenge for all of the Cullens and was usually avoided at all costs anytime one of them was in the hospital to see Carlise. They weren't too far past the blood bank when the nurse swiped her key card into the reader next to a door with a sign reading 'Warning: High Volume Radiation.' The nurse parked Cassandra's wheelchair in the center of the room, and walked toward the technician sitting at the computer next to the radiation machine. Alice watched and listened to the pair's hasty whispers. The nurse passed the technician Cassandra's chart and quickly explained Alice's presence. She promised to be back by the end of the session to pick the girl up and take her back to her room. The technician thanked her and typed a few commands into the computer. He waited until the nurse was gone before looking at Cassandra and Alice. He had a kind smile that reminded Alice of Carlise. "So, you're Dr. Cullen's daughter." Alice nodded without speaking. "It's good to meet you. I'm Chris." The technician said by way of introducing himself and held out his hand to Alice.

Alice took the man's hand in a firm handshake, smiling when he flinched at the cold touch. "Alice." She said, introducing herself in turn.

"You, uh, wanna help me get Cassandra up on the table?" He asked looking from Alice to his patient to the equipment.

"Oh, I got it." Alice said with a mischievous grin and expertly unlocked the wheels on Cassandra's chair to position her closer to the machine. She lifted Cassandra onto the table as easily as before, and then placed the awful wheelchair into the far corner, out of view from the radiation machine, knowing that if it were closer, the sight of it would bother Cassandra.

"You, uh, must have done this before." Chris said with a slightly nervous laugh.

Recognizing the flirtatious tone, Alice shook her head shyly. "Nope."

"I see." But clearly the technician was baffled by how comfortable and unawkward Alice seemed.

Chris did help position Cassandra on the table, since Alice wasn't exactly sure where the girl was receiving her treatment. She should have taken more than just a casual look at that medical chart. That would have really impressed the technician if she had already known exactly how to lay Cassandra on the table. Alice watched as Chris typed a few more keys on the keyboard in front of the computer, and finally held up an oversized vest in front of her face. "You'll need this. Ever wear one before?"

"Yes," Alice said, lying easily. She would have told him that she had never needed to wear one before, but after catching a glimpse of Chris helping her place the bulky shield over her shoulders and adjusting its position around her, had quickly decided to avoid that particular encounter. Chris was already planning how to ask Alice out on a date and she had no intention of letting that particular dream of his come to fruition either.

"Well, uh, great then. I'll just help you get it on." _This guy just can't give up_. Alice thought as the man stretched the vest out toward Alice, intending to place it on her shoulders for her. Before he got very far, however, Alice easily liberated him of the heavy burden.

"No thanks. I've got it." She said confidently and pretended to struggle with the vest's weight as she fitted it over her chest. "There, see. Told you I've used one before." She said sarcastically.

"Yeah, so you did." Chris said shaking his head at Cullen's pixie-sized, stubborn, but beautiful, adopted daughter. "Ok, I guess that's everything. I'm going to be right in there if you need anything. Speakers will be on the entire time, so just start talking, and I'll hear you." He was telling both Alice and Cassandra, but his eyes never left Alice's face. Clearly, he was captivated by her, dazzled as Bella would have put it. It was the natural charm of a vampire over a human, or of a woman over a man. Alice wasn't entirely sure which it was in this case. Chris made a beeline for the booth in the corner of the room that he had previously indicated. It was small, and the front panel of it was solid glass, so they could see in to it and more importantly, he could see out. There were three additional computer monitors in the booth that Alice could see.

But Alice didn't have time to ponder the over abundance of the machinery in the room just now. She gently took Cassandra's hand in her own and gave it a small squeeze. It was a signal from the older woman to the younger girl, a promise that the older was there for the younger. Before either girl could say anything else, the table began to move into the hollow of the radiation machine, and Alice was forced to release Cassandra's hand. The machine was loud and it forced Alice to give up trying to watch the future for a few minutes. Her mind couldn't get past the offending noise. When the noise finally stopped, and the table moved out of the machine, Alice was shocked to see a pale, sweaty Cassandra. This Cassandra was nothing like the vibrant, happy-go-lucky Cassandra that had gone into the machine minutes earlier. Why hadn't she seen this? Why hadn't Carlise warned her that it would be like this? But Alice realized that she should have known even without the visions and without Carlise's warning. She had studied enough medicine to know what awful things a large enough dose of radiation could do to the human body. The thing that brought Alice back to reality was Chris's voice over the intercom. "You can remove that vest now, if you'd like, Alice," he told her gently. Without thinking, she did as he suggested and removed the vest far too quickly and far too easily. She reached for Cassandra's hand to comfort the girl and was rewarded by a grateful, almost hopeful smile.

Alice had been so busy with Cassandra that she hadn't seen or heard Dr. Milligan approach until he was standing directly behind her. The doctor cleared his throat gently to get her attention. "I need to examine Cassandra for just a moment now, Alice. You can wait over there." He nodded toward where Chris was standing across the room.

"Right." Alice said, reluctant to leave Cassandra.

"I'll take good care of her, I promise." Dr. Milligan said, as if reading her mind.

"I know." Alice admitted quickly and picking up her discarded vest, made her way over to wait with Chris. "Here." She handed him the object and watched as he hung it on a hook on the wall. "I didn't know it was going to be like that." She admitted to the technician.

"Yeah. It never gets any easier." He agreed with a hint of sadness in his tone. "I can tell that you being there for her at the end of it helped though. I've seen people come out crying from the abuse that machine inflicts. I wish there was an easier way to treat cancer. Especially for the kids."

"Me too." Alice agreed and added silently to herself that there would be an easier way if Carlise's experiment with vampire venom worked the way she hoped it would. Who have thought the cure for cancer would have come from a vampire? And from the very substance that they used to kill so many more humans.

"I mean they say chemo is worse than radiation because of the whole throwing up thing, and radiation just feels like a really bad sunburn at its worst. It's not really suppose to hurt, but it's not exactly a day at the beach either, if you know what I mean. People get sick from radiation all the time." Chris rambled simply for the sake of making noise, but Alice chose not to pay any attention to him. She was more interested in the conversation between Dr. Milligan and Cassandra. The doctor seemed to be wrapping things up with the girl, telling her that she would probably be tired for the next few hours, and to get some sleep if she could. Alice knew that Cassandra wasn't really listening to the doctor, her gaze was focused on her instead, and she could see a vision of talking to Cassandra in her room well past the time she probably should have been. She was a doctor's kid, she could get away with breaking the visiting hours rule, even though she knew better.

"Can Alice stay with me? Please?" Cassandra was asking the doctor, a pleading look in her deep brown, doe eyes.

"Only if you can promise me that you'll get some rest." Dr. Milligan told her, giving in to the child's gentle expression.

"I promise." The girl said with a wide smile, and Alice knew it was the truth. Before they talked Cassandra would take a nap, giving Alice time to plan her answers to the questions she knew the girl would have. Maybe she could flip the tables and start asking the questions to avoid answering others.

"Chris, please call the nurse to come take Cassandra back to her room." Dr. Milligan instructed the technician as he approached the two. "Alice, you may go back with Cassandra, but please let her rest."

"I will." The energetic girl answered, confident of the future she had seen in her vision.

"I'll tell the nurses not to bother you. I need to get these readings to your dad, but after that I'll be in my office. Let me know if anything happens." There it was. The look. The look in a doctor's eye when he knew more than he was saying. Alice had learned to recognize it long ago. She would get Carlise to tell her what was going on, knowing that Milligan saw her only as a teenager, and would never give her any information.

Within five minutes, Cassandra was back in her bed, sound asleep. She had barely even been able to mumble a quick good night to Alice before fatigue forced her to sleep. Alice took the opportunity to start reading the book that Cassandra had recommended to her earlier that day. It was a book about fictional characters, creatures, monsters, and beings. It had everthing in there from angels to demons to frankenstien to ghosts to zombies to witches to warewolves to vampires. And then it had two very short chapters on crossover creatures. The first chapter was on the Zombie Ghost and the second chapter was all about the Angel Vampire. It was this chapter that Alice read the most completely and the most carefully. According to the book the Vampire Angel was the most common of all good monsters. Apparently angels and vampires were once cousins. Then the vampire decided to become evil. A Vampire Angel is created when an evil vampire decides to become more like his good cousin, the angel. It was often believed that the Angel of Death mythology was actually inspired by a Vampire Angel.

After reading the monsters and creatures book, Alice reached for another book in the stack, and was pleased when she found that it was a work of fiction about a young girl named Mandie who was part Cherokee Indian and lived with her Uncle John. The girl was mischievious and often got into a heap of trouble with her friends Cecilia and Joe and her cat snowball. However, things always worked out in the end, often after one of the kids reminded the others of their special verse. _What time I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. _It was these words that Alice spent the next hour contemplating as she watched Cassandra sleep. Who or what did this young child place her trust in when she was the most afraid? Was it in monsters and creatures like the ones in her other book? Was it in her parents? Or was there something else that this girl trusted beyond the normal?


	3. Questions and Answers

**Author's Note 1: Thank you so much to those of you who have added this story to favorites and alerts. I hope to be able update with one or two chapters every weekend for the next couple of weeks. I've got about half of the story written so far, and the rest of is outlined in detail, so hopefully there won't be too many delays before I have the entire story posted. As always, comments and reviews are always appreciated, as long as they are constructive. So, if you don't have anything nice to say, or suggestions on how I can improve the story, then please don't review.**

**Author's Note 2: I realize that in the last chapter there were a couple places where I used the term Angel Vampire instead of Vampire Angel. Originally, I was going to have two different hybrid species, but I changed my mind and forgot to go back and change the terminology. This error has since been corrected.**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, and events are the property of the awesome Stephanie Meyers. No copyright infringement is intended. **

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Cassandra awoke after only a few hours of restless sleep, and coughed slightly to clear the dryness from her throat. Reaching over to the nightstand, she quickly found the always full cup of ice water that she knew would be there. After taking a sip, she blinked a few times, and scanned the room, finally focusing on her Vampire Angel, Alice. A smile instantly brightened her face at seeing Alice. "You stayed." She cried excitedly and tried to sit up in the bed, but had to settle for propping herself up on one arm.

Alice always found it confusing to watch a human wake up in the mornings. They all reacted so differently, and yet the concept was the same. Drowsy confusion, and the uncanny need to either eat, drink, or use the bathroom, replaced by re-acclimating his or her sore and stiff muscles, and finally full awareness. Back when she was a human, Bella had always seemed to wake up with a smile on her face, and stretched quickly before running off to brush her teeth and use the bathroom. She was an early riser, and didn't struggle to get out of bed as so many teenagers did. Cassandra was the opposite, she awoke with a frown, her stretching was slower, and she craved water more than the need to brush her teeth.

"I told you I would stay." Alice easily answered the girl's surprised exclamation with a bright smile of her own.

"Yeah, but sometimes even angels have to break a promise." Cassandra said sadly with a shrug. "If it wasn't for the fact that everyone else could see you too, I'd think you were some kind of a dream. They say when you're dying, you see things that aren't really there, like angels. That's how I realized you were a Vampire Angel. All the pieces are there. The book I'm reading explains everything. Angels and vampires are related. Both are beautiful and draw you in. The difference is the intent behind their actions. One is protection, and the other is death. But every now and then, a blend between the two is created. The vampire part still wants death, but they force themselves to adhere only to the angel part and choose to protect instead. And some are better at it than others. You're one of the best ones ever! I mean, not that I've met alot of Vampire Angels, but you have to be one of the best. I just know it. I know I'm not supposed to know what you are, but I do, and that must be why you're still here. If I was wrong, then you would have left thinking that I was crazy. But since I'm right, you stayed to make sure that I wouldn't tell anyone else. Well, I won't. I promise. I have another theory too. I think you could be the Vampire version of the Angel of Death. You don't care that I know because you're here to help me die. That's why you dropped your guard the other day and let me see what you are."

Alice was amused at the sudden string of words that started pouring from the girl's mouth. Cassandra hadn't even really paused to take a breath as she babbled about her Vampire Angel theory and how it applied to her situation. She would have laughed, but was too startled by the sudden dark turn that Cassandra's words had taken. She was completely speechless for a moment after the girl had finally stopped talking. She had no idea what part of Cassandra's declaration to respond to first. She tried to look ahead for help in knowing what to say, but since she hadn't made any decisions, the future at this point was cloudy, and jumbled beyond separation. Something in Alice wanted to reach out to Cassandra, to assure the girl that she wasn't there to help her die, but hopefully to help keep her alive, but she knew that she couldn't explain any of that to the human, at least not yet. Even with all the lifetimes she had exisited in, there were still some things that baffled her. She wished that she could to talk to Rosalie. Her sister had once worked in a day care with the hope that it would help assuage some of the feelings she had about her missed opportunity of being a mother. The only good thing that came from the experience was that Rosalie had learned how to talk to human kids, and the entire family now benefited from that knowledge. Carlise had once acted as the best pediatrician in Alaska. And Alice knew that now would be her chance to benefit from Rosalie's experience.

Finally, Alice knew what words to say to Cassandra. She had recalled the time that she had majored in psychology. It was Jasper's idea. He had wanted to understand humans better after they had joined the Cullens. It was an easy way for him to stop thinking about them as a food source. "Cassandra, do you want to die?"

"No!" The girl shook her head empathically.

"Good, because that's not something I can help you with while there are still other options. And my dad has a pretty good idea of how to make sure it doesn't come to that."

"So, you're not a Vampire Angel of Death?"

"No."

"But you are a Vampire Angel?" It was the first time she had asked Alice the direct question.

"No." Alice said the word slowly indicating that she would say more. This was the part Alice had struggled with since Cassandra had first said the words. Should she confirm what the girl already knew and expose her to the wrath of the Volturi as a human who knew the truth, and doom her future by sentencing her to become one of them when she was old enough? Or should she deny the truth completely and risk frustrating the girl with the belief that the Cullens were liars? It was too late for a flat denial and the chances of Cassandra's survival were so slim anyway, Alice knew which route she had to take. The same route Edward had decided to take with Bella. Sometimes they didn't have a choice. As Alice's decision solidified, so did Cassandra's future as a Cullen. Although Alice knew that at this point that was impossible. "There's nothing angelic about what I am. I'm just a vampire. A monster, not an angel."

"But you don't drink human blood?"

"No." How much should she tell the girl? "But I have." Just the admission brought a wave of venom into Alice's mouth. She swallowed hard and held her breath just in case.

"But not anymore. You've chosen a different lifestyle. To become more like the angels. Therefore, you are a Vampire Angel." Cassandra insisted.

"You seem so sure of that."

"That's because I am sure."

"What happens if I do something to prove you wrong?" It was an uncomfortable, but entirely necessary question. What if she messed up?

"You won't." Cassandra was confident, and it caused Alice to sympathize with Edward all the more. Bella had loved him so much, she ignored all his warnings, and now Cassandra was doing the same thing to her.

"Why are you so confident?"

"Your eyes. They're a window to your soul. And they're honest. Besides, you haven't hurt me so far."

It was hard for Alice to deny what Cassandra had just said. "I hope you're right." And along with Alice's self-doubt, Cassandra's future had turned blurry again.

"How did you come up with all of this anyway? I read your book and while it does talk about vampires and angels, and even the term Vampire Angel, everything was kind of vauge and confusing, even for me."

"It was easy. All the signs were there. Friendly and kind, but cold to the touch and un-naturally talented. Besides, I prayed for one, a Vampire Angel. And then I found you. My Vampire Angel."

"You prayed for one? Why would you do that?"

"Because I don't want to die. And I knew that if anyone could save me, then a Vampire Angel could. You can save me. Maybe not by keeping me alive. But by being my friend and helping me not to be so scared. I mean, it must have been really scary to turn against your nature to become good, and that's why you can save me. If you can do that, then I can face death." The words were simple, but the meaning behind them was deep, beyond Cassandra's years.

"Wow, you're really smart. I would have never made the connections you did from the book to me and back again. And knowing the difference between being saved by being alive and being saved by being comfortable is a really hard concept to master. I'm impressed. And while I don't think that I'm exactly an answer to your prayer, I will be your friend, and help you however I can. That's a promise and I don't make promises lightly."

"My parents say the same thing about me being smart. And I still say that you are the answer to my prayer. My Vampire Angel."

Alice took a deep breath and bit the inside of her lip, a human gesture that she supposed she had never gotten over. it was time for a subject change, there was point in continuing to argue with the girl. "So, I was ready to answer a lot of difficult questions. You can't tell me that you don't have any. Now that you know the truth."

"I might have a few, but I think I understand most of it from the book. I assume your whole family is like you. Dr. Cullen, and all of his adopted kids. I've heard the nurses talking."

"Yes, we are. We call ourselves a coven of vegetarian vampires. We try to blend in with normal humans, but I guess if the nurses are talking, then we haven't done such a good job, huh?"

"Vegetarian vampires." Cassandra puzzled the phrase for a minute. "I get it. Like vegetarian humans don't eat meat, a vegetarian vampire doesn't eat humans. I think that I like that, but not as good as I like Vampire Angel. A coven of Vampire Angels. My Vampire Angels. Here to protect me." Cassandra released a large yawn, and rubbed sleepily at her eyes. "Will you stay with me while I sleep again? I don't think I can stay awake any longer."

Alice gave the girl a gentle smile. "How about if I stay until you fall asleep, and promise to be back tomorrow afternoon? I have to….things to do in the morning before I can come by." Hunt being at the top of that list.

"Ok." The child said in a small voice, fighting off sleep as long as possible. "Goodnight my Vampire Angel sister, Alice." Although the last part had come out as a slur Alice understood every word, and it worried her that the child was already thinking of her as a sister.

Alice waited as the last bit of Cassandra's consciousness slipped away and the girl fell into another restless sleep. Watching over the girl was somehow comforting to Alice, and she had almost decided to skip hunting for another day when the silver phone in her pocket vibrated. Looking ahead, Alice knew that it was Edward calling to tell her that Carlise wanted to talk as soon as she and Jasper got back from hunting and that Jasper had told him to let her know that he would be waiting in front of the hospital. "Thanks for calling, Edward." Alice hissed into the now open phone too quiet for Cassandra to be bothered by the noise. "Tell Carlise I'll be there and that I'll do whatever I have to do. And I just saw Jasper run into the hospital lot. I'll see you when we get back home."

"Right. Have fun, Alice. I'll hug Nessie goodnight for you." Edward's voice was gentle on the other end of the line.

"Just because I thought it last night, doesn't mean that's what I was thinking tonight." She challenged her brother as she made her way silently and quickly out of Cassandra's room.

"Hey, Bella's not the only one who's mind I can read without using my ability." Edward's laugh was rich and deep on the other end of the phone.

"I'm sure." Alice said sarcastically, hoping that he could read the mental eye roll she was sending him.

"You may be out of range, Alice, but I still know what you're thinking. You just spent the past eight hours at the hospital with Cassandra. I know what that must have done to you. We all do. It's the same thing that happened to me when I spent all that time watching Bella." Edward's tone suddenly turned serious.

"Thanks for the call about Carlise and Jasper, Edward. But I don't need a lecture about Cassandra right now. We'll talk more when Jasper and I get back from hunting." Alice clicked her phone closed to disconnect the call without saying goodbye.

It hadn't been easy to tell the family about Cassandra, but Carlise had encouraged Alice to do so. He had said that in the long run it would be for the best if everyone knew from the beginning what was happening. At least their reaction to Cassandra had been better than the reaction to Bella, but not by much. She had stressed that the circumstances were vastly different, and most of the family had accepted that. Bella was obviously her biggest supporter in the matter, and suprisingly, Emmett, not Rosalie, was her biggest adversary. But there would be plenty of time to think about that later. For now, Alice had only one thing on her mind.

The hospital parking lot was mostly empty with only a single lone figure standing at its edge, next to the forest. It was this figure that Alice now ran toward. She bounced into the Jasper's waiting arms with a huge grin. "I hope I didn't make you wait too long, love." She said as she gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"You know you didn't darling. Everything ok? You seem a little…conflicted, melancholy."

"Cassandra called me her Vampire Angel sister." Alice confessed, and watched Jasper's reaction closely, tensing just as he did.

"That's not good." He said under his breath, not wanting to upset his wife, but at the same time knowing the full range of consequences that could come from the simple label that the girl had given her.

"I know. She's getting too close, too attached. I knew it was a possibility, but I had hoped that I could avoid her emotions getting so strong," Alice admitted, knowing that Cassandra wasn't the only one getting too attached, and from the look in Jasper's eyes, he knew it too. She could never hide anything from him.

"No, not that. Not the sister part. The vampire part. She knows the truth about us." Jasper had almost sounded upset as he said the words. "That's not good, it's dangerous."

"Yes, I know." Alice admitted and redirected her gaze to the ground.

"We'll have to deal with that." Jasper said seriously.

"I know. I just really, really hope that Carlise's treatment will work. So, can we focus on that for now please?" She left the rest of her thoughts unspoken. "Jazz, let me tell the others, ok?"

Jasper nodded his head silently, knowing that Alice wouldn't let him down. He could feel that the conversation was starting to upset Alice, and that was the last thing that he wanted. But his earlier words needed to be said regardless of how difficult it was for her to hear them.

Trying to shake her current feelings away and replace them with happy thoughts of hunting for her empathetic husband's sake, Alice turned a teasing smile to him. "So, what's on the menu tonight?"

"Not sure. What are you in the mood for? Elk? Or something a bit more adventurous? Bobcat, perhaps?" Jasper took the cue from his wife, musing over diner options as he led Alice into the woods.


	4. Finding a Treatment

**Author's Note: Two chapters in the same day? Yes, but only because this one is an extension of the last one, and it's a little longer, so I couldn't wait to post it. Reviews are always appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, and events are the property of Stephanie Meyers. No copyright infringement is intended. **

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A buck, a doe, and a bobcat later, Alice danced upstairs to Carlise's attic lab. She was feeling much better after her time hunting with Jasper. Her thirst was sated for the moment, and her adopted dad and brother were going to let her help find the right combination of venom and diluting agent to help Cassandra.

"Only a small amount for now." Carlise was telling Edward as she walked into the attic lab. As soon as Alice saw what the two men were so engrossed in, she took a deep breath and held it, not trusting herself to smell the O-neg blood and maintain control. Since Edward had gained such large control around the smell and sight of blood, he had become Carlise's assistant of sorts. Unfortunately, Alice couldn't say the same of her own control. "Alice, I'm glad you could make it. We need fresh venom to finish the experiments. I thought that you'd want us to use yours since it's for Cassandra."

Alice was honored that Carlise had thought to include her in such a meaningful way. It would be her venom that cured Cassandra. It would be her venom that would be the first proved cure for cancer. Alice Cullen, walking cure for cancer, that had a nice ring to it. Her excitement was short lived however, and she forced herself to come back down to Earth, meeting Edward's eyes and silently asking him if he would stop her if she started to lose control. Edward nodded his consent and sealed the deal between Alice and the mad vampire scientists. "Ok." She agreed, and let out the rest of the air she was still holding in her useless lungs.

"Spit out what you can in here." Carlise instructed her handing Alice a glass dish.

Tasting the air in the lab experimentally, Alice was shocked at the heavier than expected scent of human blood. She gasped as the venom seared her throat and flooded her mouth. Keeping control was much harder than she thought it would be. A glance at Edward reassured her that he was ready to stop her from drinking all the blood that was being used as a test for the different concentrations of venom. Alice wasted no more time, and quickly spit out the accumulated venom. It looked different when it was sitting in a bowl than when it was flowing into her prey. For an instant, Alice could understand what it was about the stuff that fascinated Carlise so much, and why Edward was so willing and eager to help him with all of his experiments. She handed the now very full bowl back to Carlise, not trusting herself to speak.

"It'll be easier if you concentrate on the venom smell, instead of the blood smell." Edward told her. "Since it's your venom, there's no risk in you thinking that another vampire beat you to the kill."

"Right." Alice breathed out, and in slowly, painfully slowly. "It's helping, thanks."

"How did it go with Cassandra today?" Carlise asked as he adjusted the magnification on the microscope he was looking into. Even with super vampire eyes, there were some things so small that he couldn't see without the tool's aid.

"It went ok. She knows." There was point in telling them just what it was that Cassandra knew.

"How?" Carlise didn't sound upset, just curious.

"I don't know, exactly. She read about us in a book. She read about something called a Vampire Angel in the same book, and suddenly she was combining everything together and telling me she knew that's what I was. Her Vampire Angel sister. That's what she called me." Alice admitted uncomfortably.

"That's not good." Carlise said in the same contemplative way that Jasper had only a few hours before. But this time Alice knew that he was speaking about the sister part and not the vampire part of Cassandra's unique name for her.

"No, I know it's not. I told Jasper and he thinks that we should just forget the whole thing, and euthanize her now. I'm sure that Emmett would agree. Rosalie enjoys being Auntie Rosie too much, so she would probably insist that we have to save her and change her when she's old enough so the Volturi don't come after us for sharing the secret with a human again. Bella's still too new to know what to think. But I'm pretty sure that she would never agree with Jasper and Emmet. I need to know what you two think. You're the only two I haven't been able to factor into my visions."

"I think...I need some more compound three." Carlise spoke to Edward and waited as the other man handed him a test tube of clear liquid. "And as for Cassandra, I don't know how she figured us out from reading a book. She must have an extremely high IQ. That's dangerous in and of itself. My position on her fate hasn't changed. It's really not up to us to decide what will ultimately happen to her. I still believe that God has something to do with that. Only He can decide life and death. But we have to try treating her. It's what's morally right, whether or not she knows that she's being treated by a vampire doctor. And if we fail, my honest opinion is that this just gives us one more reason to help her into the afterlife. It'll be a merciful euthanasia, to keep her from the Volturi and from life as an empty shell. Edward, will you please hand me that flask over there?" Carlise easily moved from talking about Cassandra to concentrating on his experiment.

Edward did as he was asked, hearing the thoughts in Alice's head that begged him to speak up on the issue. And he knew what he had to say when he opened his mouth. "She's started thinking of you as a sister. That's a huge responsibility. It's almost as big a responsibility as falling in love. You won't be able to deny her anything. It's not going to be easy, but when the time comes you know what you have to do…and you have my support Alice, just like you supported me with Bella." It was exactly what she needed to hear from her favorite brother. He understood all too well the attachment that didn't allow you to live without another in your life. The connection that would force her into finding a way to help Cassandra, even if it meant changing her. That thought terrified and excited Alice at the same time.

Alice impulsively hugged Edward after he spoke his short, simple, but meaningful piece. "Thank you, so much Edward, that's exactly what I needed to hear. I love you."

"I've been there remember."

"I know." The looks that the vampire siblings traded in that moment spoke volumes to them. It was a shared bond that no one else in the family could truly understand. "Carlise, can venom cure the brain damage that Cassandra would have if the Leukemia runs its course? I mean, can venom help her to come out of her zombie state if it comes to that?"

"I don't know." Carlise spoke slowly. "I believe that it could. But would you really be willing to let Cassandra suffer that long? Until she's old enough to be changed?"

"It's her decision to make. And she doesn't want to die. She told me that much."

"I see. It is a big decision. I'm not sure that she's really old enough to decide something like this. And even so, what would you choose, Alice? If the situation were reversed, would you want to suffer for years as an empty shell, or simply be put to rest?"

Alice didn't hesitate in her answer. "If I could live forever with someone I loved after a short time of suffering, I would choose that. Besides, how aware are zombies of what's happening to them anyway? How do we know that she'd really be suffering? You, yourself, called it an empty shell experience. She could simply be blissfully ignorant of her own plight."

"That's a good point, Alice. And I don't have an answer for you. We simply don't know enough about people in that state to have that kind of answers. After all, the only practical application we have is the Haitian version of a zombie. And that has its flaws. There are cases where humans have been made to suffer in a vegetative state for years before waking up. It's always explained as a miracle, but I think that evil just gets tired of making them suffer, and spits them out, so it can swallow someone new. The first hand reports are limited and mixed, so there's really no way to know for sure. The only thing I can think to compare it to is how Edward and Bella were during that time of separation that none of us want to think about or talk about. They were like empty shells in a way. They have both admitted that without those months of knowing what it was like to be apart from one another, they may not have ever gotten to the point where they are today. I won't ask you to talk about it, Edward." Carlise quickly tried to comfort his son, knowing how difficult this topic was for him. _At least not with me here. But Alice might still need to hear it. Later, when it's just the two of you. If she's serious about this new theory, a theory you inspired by the way, then she has to know everything that she's getting herself into with it. I trust you to hold up your end of it, Edward. _He finished his speech in his head, knowing that the person who needed to hear it would.

It was just after sunrise the next morning when Carlise spoke again. "I think we're ready for a test." These were his first words in nearly five hours, and they were words that caused Edward and Alice to exchange piercing looks.

"Are you sure that we don't need to try one more level of dilution?" It was Edward who spoke next. He trusted Carlise's judgment in such matters, but wasn't entirely certain if they were using enough caution. He knew Carlise well enough that he would never be so eager to make a new discovery that he would sacrifice caution, but he also knew that Carlise was convinced that Cassandra didn't have much time left, and that could make him a little less careful than he probably should be with the venom dosage and strength. He could read similar thoughts coming from Alice, but Carlise's mind was filled with confident reassurances.

"How do we do it? Test it, I mean." Alice finally asked the question that Edward had been hearing in her head for several minutes.

"We use one of us. If it leaves a mark, the venom is still too powerful. But if there's no mark, then it's diluted enough that it won't change her. Unfortunately, no matter how much of the diluting agent, we add, it won't erase the pain." Carlise said as if the answer were obvious. And maybe it was, to him.

"I'll do it." Alice volunteered without hesitation. Edward looked at her with surprise, but after reading her mind and hearing that she was serious, decided not to protest her decision.

"I was hoping that you would say that." Carlise told her, after a look from Edward to encourage him to voice his thought. Before Alice had a chance to change her mind, Carlise firmly took her arm and gently grazed her skin with his teeth. A needle or a knife wouldn't have been able to pierce her skin, and Carlise's mouth was the only one completely free of venom at the moment. The doctor took a small drop of the diluted venom and rubbed it over the spot on her arm where his teeth had grazed her. Alice hissed at the immediate shock of the venom to her system. "It should subside in a few seconds if Edward and I got the calculations right." Carlise reassured her, not releasing her arm.

"No, it's fine." Alice promised aloud and added a silent warning to Edward to not tell Carlise about the string of obscenities running through her head as the venom burned in her system.

"Have you thought any more about how to administer it?" Edward asked Carlise in an effort to take the attention off Alice while they waited to see if the venom would leave a mark, and to provide her with a distraction from the pain.

"Yes. I think it would be best if I followed your idea and just mixed it into the regular IV regimen."

"She'll still know that something isn't right." Edward commented idly, reading what Alice was thinking. "I think that Alice should be there when you introduce it. At least the first time. She can help keep her calm through the pain."

"I think you're right. And I also think that you're right about needing to tell Cassandra something so that she won't be completely taken by surprise. Alice can help with that as well. If you're willing to?" He said turning back to his adopted daughter.

"Do you even need to ask? Of course I'll help. Wait? Did you say something about the _first _time?" She turned to glare at Edward, but quickly spun her gaze on Carlise. "You're going to do this more than once?"

"If we have to." The doctor clarified.

"I really hope it doesn't come to that. Once is enough. If it doesn't work after that, then it probably won't." Alice argued.

"I disagree. The amount of diluting agent might affect the healing potential as well. It's very probable that Carlise will have to administer several doses before there's any result." Edward argued the very thought that he heard echoing in Carlise's mind.

Alice was given a wakeup call of sorts by Edward's words, and it took her a few seconds to recover. Blinking, she looked down at her arm and grimaced. There was no way Jasper was going to miss that, and then she would have to tell him about Carlise's tests. "It left a mark by the way." The girl said holding out her arm for the two men to see for themselves. She hissed slightly as Carlise inspected the area with his finger tips.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly.

"No, you're not." She countered. "You had to know how tender it would be."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that I can't be sorry for causing you any pain."

"It's ok, Carlise. I know this is just a necessary evil consequence. And it really doesn't even hurt that bad. I'm just being a baby about it. Honest."

Edward chuckled to himself at a random thought. If he didn't know better, he'd think that Alice was being hormonal. First she snapped at Carlise, then lied to him about how much it hurt. First, she was angry, then protective. If that wasn't hormonal, then Edward didn't know what was. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized there were times when each of sisters, and even Bella were a little moody. "Don't even think about it!" Alice snapped at him. She added a silent note to never let Bella hear him call her moody.

She must have seen the question he was getting ready to ask Carlise. _Can a female vampire have PMS?_ Just because they couldn't reproduce didn't mean that they didn't have hormonal fluctuations throughout their lifetimes. A vampire's emotive state and general overall mood may never change, but certainly there were times and circumstances that prompted a temporary deviation from the norm for any given vampire. And for the female vampire, Edward was sure that it could be linked to a PMS like condition.

"I won't." Edward finally promised Alice out loud knowing that she was still waiting for a response to her defense of her sister, his wife. Bella was still stronger than he was after all, and he didn't want to face her moody wrath. She would make sure that he would never make another comment like that one.

Carlise observed the mostly silent conversation between the two siblings. "That's enough! Both of you!" He let the words sink in before looking back at Edward. "You need to hunt. And so does Bella. Leave Nessie here, we'll look after her. Make it a short trip, and when you get home, go straight to the hospital. We still have enough O-neg and enough of Alice's venom to start from scratch with the dilution process. And there're some things at the hospital that might make it easier for us."

"What have you been using to dilute the venom anyway? I had assumed that it was saline, but that did not feel like saline to me." The question came from Alice.

"It wasn't saline. That wouldn't work. Venom reacts to saline in much the same way that it does to water." Carlise explained. "The toxicity of venom is such that very few things can dilute it enough. And half of those things you'd never want to introduce into the human body."

_Why not? How bad could it get? _Alice thought the questions in Edward's direction. She was rewarded with an image of a very sick Cassandra throwing up into a large bucket that Alice was holding. The next image was of Cassandra in a child sized coffin. _Never mind. I get the idea._ Alice thought at her brother and the images were quickly erased from her vision.

"I'll go get Bella, and meet you back at the hospital later." Edward told Carlise, agreeing with his earlier instructions, and quickly exited the room. Carlise had been right about his need to hunt, and what he had just forced into Alice's mind was proof of that. He was sorry that his decision to inject Cassie with lethally diluted venom had hurt Alice like it had, but his dear sister needed to see that he and Carlise knew what they were doing.

"So, back to my original question. What did you use just now?" Alice asked again, unwilling to let the question go unanswered as she watched Edward flee from the room. She smiled to herself as his decision to apologize to her formed another vision in her mind.

"Beer." Carlise told her simply, but at Alice's shocked expression, he quickly added, "The alcohol and the venom cancel each other out. It's really the best solution for a diluting agent that we've found."

"Sure." Alice said, and spun around to follow Edward out of the attic. It was clear that Carlise had called a timeout on the experiments for now. Besides she had already seen that she would get to the hospital before Cassandra woke up and that was something that Alice didn't want to miss.

For the next two and a half days, Alice barely left Cassandra's side, and then it was only because one of the nurses or Dr. Milligan had made her leave. They talked a lot. About everything from what it was like to go through existence without ever having to sleep or use the bathroom to the books, especially the Mandie series, that Cassandra liked to read. They talked about music and sports, Cassandra's favorite was gymnastics and she had actually competed in a few events. Alice talked about the crafts that she liked to do, like sewing her own purses, and a dress every now and then. And Cassandra talked about the cute boy on the next floor who had come in with a broken leg. They had even managed to watch a couple movies. Alice had eventually started to call her Cassie, shortening her name as her affection for the girl grew.

Alice had also gotten to know Cassandra's parents quite well. They came to the hospital whenever they could, but were very greatful to Alice for being there when they couldn't be. They both had to work full time to pay for their daughter's medical bills. As soon as Alice heard about this, she arranged for an anonymous donation to be made to the family's account at the hospital effectively paying off everything that was owed on their bill and leaving some left over for the next few weeks that Cassandra was expected to stay in the hospital. She found out then that this wasn't the first time the child had an extended stay at Forks Memorial. She had no idea how the family had managed to cope this long.

Cassandra was the topic of almost every conversation in the Cullen home during those days. Esme, Edward, and Bella had all visited the hospital at one time or another to meet Cassandra, and all of them liked the girl almost as much as Alice did. Rosalie had visited several times, often enough that Cassandra was already calling her Aunt Rose. She never had been able to resist any excuse that she could find to spend more time with a child, even if the child was dying. She had confessed to Alice how much it hurt her to know that Cassandra may not be around much longer, but still insisted on visiting as often as Emmett let her. Emmett had flat out refused to meet Cassandra, stubbornly sticking to his opinion that it was foolhardy to become so attached to a girl that would die in a month anyway, or that they were going to have to kill.

Jasper was proving to be the most difficult Cullen when it came to Cassandra. Part of him wanted to get to know the girl, but was hindered by the fact that he was afraid her blood would be too tempting for him in close proximity. Alice had told him a dozen times that the girl's blood was so full of the Luekemia disease that she smelled entirely unappitizing. But it didn't reassure him. It was better just to stay away. Besides, he couldn't risk getting attached like the rest of the family. He had to be the one to stay unattached just in case. If they were going to have to euthanize Cassandra, then he needed to be the one to do it. There was no way Alice could at this point, and relying on Emmett was always risky. His killing wouldn't be merciful like Jasper's would be. He could relax the girl so much before snapping her neck that she wouldn't have time to be afraid or even to comprehend what was happening. So, he needed to stay objective, and that meant that as much as he would have liked to meet Cassandra, he couldn't do it. If Alice knew what he was thinking, he would stop her, so he kept his plans purposefully vague. She would expect the euthanasia to come from Carlise, and she would be watching him, and would stop him, but Jasper knew how to work around Alice, and he would if he had to. When she found out, she would be angry, but Jasper knew how to handle that too.

Eventually, the first finalized batch of double V solution was ready to try on Cassandra. The nickname for Carlise's miracle drug had been an easy enough creation. After all, they couldn't just call it vampire venom, so the double V moniker had been born. Everyone in the hospital had assumed that the new drug that Dr. Cullen wanted to introduce into Cassandra's system was FDA approved, and that he had acquired it through legitimate means. No one thought to double check the well respected man's decisions. No one was going to try to track down where the drug actually came from; it was all taken for granted by the ignorant humans that ran the hospital. Even Milligan accepted that double V solution was just another drug that Carlise had managed to find from an overseas supplier. The accounts payable division at the hospital would never receive a bill for the drug, however. But no red flags would be raised because no one in accounts payable would know be expecting a bill for the illustrious double V solution.

Edward had told Alice that if Cassandra's test proved successful, and they wanted to continue to use double V solution, then they would eventually have to legitimize its existence by creating an overseas drug manufacturing shell-company. Carlise's dream was to market the drug as an FDA approved substance available to all types of patients within the hospital setting. That would be a long time down the road, but he had high hopes for its success. The first hurdle would be today's test on Cassandra. They were all relatively confident of the outcome, but unfortunately, no one could be certain of it. Ideally, it would start to heal Cassandra immediately, without the danger of turning her.

During the previous evening, Carlise had tested the drug on each of the seven other adult vampires in the house. He excused Nessie from the testing for several reasons. Probably the biggest of which was Edward's threat to rip his head off if he hurt Nessie even a little. Out of the seven tests, all had the results that he had been hoping for. Not one of them was left with a scar on his or her arm from the diluted vampire venom he had injected into him or her. They all admitted that there was still some pain, pain that would be greater in Cassie, but pain that could still be endured. By every account, that was considered perfect results, and thus it was now time to step up the game a little, and increase the stakes. Now was the time to take double V solution to the ultimate testing grounds, to Cassandra's hospital room.

It went against everything that Carlise once represented. He had once viewed the testing of a new drug on a human patient for the first time without any concrete evidence of a certain outcome foolish. But he would be doing this for Alice, for his daughter that he could never say no to. And if anything went wrong, he would be there to fix it.

"Good news, Cassie, my dad found that drug I've been telling you about. The one that will help you. He should be here at any minute to give you your first dose, Alice practically sang the words as she danced into Cassandra's hospital room that morning.

"You still aren't going to tell me anything about it, are you?" Cassie asked weakly. During the week since Alice had first met Cassandra, she had come to easily recognize if the young girl was having a good day or bad day. And today was a bad day for Cassandra. Her eyes were sunken deep into her thin, fragile face. And her voice didn't hold the confidence that Alice knew it had on the girl's good days. Hopefully, Carlise's double V solution could change the course of the day for Cassie. If the venom could just stave off the spread of the cancer for one more week, she knew she would have time to convince the family that changing her was the only thing they could do now. It was a forbidden idea that came to her as Carlise performed his tests and Edward had talked to her several more times about his experience with Bella, and how idiotic he had been to ever consider not changing his mate. It all depended how today's treatment session ended. But unfortunately, Alice was as blind to the outcome as Carlise.

"Cassie, I told you before that I couldn't tell you exactly what is in Carlise…my dad's medicine, but I can tell you that it will help. It's very important that you believe that." Alice spoke quietly and honestly. She reached out to hold Cassandra's hand in her own. There was something about that contact, about knowing that if you made one wrong move, you could crush the fragile human hand, that gave Alice a sense of protectiveness over Cassie. She took a deep unnecessary breath before continuing. "But there is something that I can tell you now that I couldn't tell you before."

"What is it?" Cassandra tried to sit up in bed and gave Alice as big of a glowing grin as she could to show her interest.

"I can tell you what it's going to feel like," Alice told the girl, and instantly took note of the disappointment on the girl's face. "I think that it's important for you to know what to expect."

"I've been given a lot of different medicines. They pretty much all feel the same." Cassie said dryly.

"Not this one." Alice denied with a shake of her head. "This one is special. Remember who found it."

"Right. So, just because the vampire doc finds a medicine means that everything about it is automatically going to be different." Cassie said with a roll of her eyes.

"That's right it does." Alice said seriously. "Carlise has connections that aren't available to the other doctors here, thus, this medicine is unlike anything you could have possibly been given before."

"Fine. How's it different?" The girl had finally consented to letting Alice tell her what she needed to about double V solution.

"When it's first exposed to your system via the IV, it'll be very thick, so it spreads very slowly through your body. You'll probably actually be able to tell exactly how far it's spread at any given moment. Once it's been exposed to your system for a while, it'll start to move faster. The pain…" Alice had to stop for a second and swallow as she was overcome with the memory of the feel of venom in her system. "The pain you'll feel is stronger than average. Actually, those who have already been given the medicine have described it as the worst pain ever. It burns and your body will take on a life of its own. Carlise has tried to negate the effects of this by simply introducing the medicine into your existing IV, but there's still a really strong chance that you'll feel a lot of the pain, and it only gets worse with time. It'll be a total shock to your system."

"But you'll be here right? You won't leave me?" Cassie's expression didn't hold any of the fear that Alice thought it would. Instead, it was strong and confident. "I mean, the new medicines, they always hurt the worst, but that's just because I'm not use to them yet. And I know that you're saying this will be even worse than that, but that's what I'm always told about a new medicine. And I always have the same response. That I'm strong and that I can handle it. And as long as you're here with me, my Vampire Angel sister, then I can handle it, no matter how bad it gets."

Alice pulled Cassie into a snug embrace, and if she could have cried, she would have in that moment. "I will be here for you. I won't leave you." She promised before releasing the girl. "Carlise's here." She said simply and turned her eyes to the door.

"I trust that we're all ready in here," the beautiful blonde doctor said looking at his adopted daughter.

"Yes." Alice answered her adopted father.

"Do you have any questions before we begin then, Cassandra?" This time the doctor was looking at the young child in the bed.

Cassie shook her head from side to side. "No, Alice explained everything. Or least what she said she could."

"Good. Now I want you to close your eyes and start counting. Don't stop. Just count, all the way to a million if you can."

Cassie shook her head again. "No, I want to watch. You don't have to keep me distracted like some little kid. Remember, you said yourself just how mature and intelligent I was for my age. So, I think I can handle watching this. And for the record, there is no limit to how high I count if I had the time."

Carlise had to smile at the last part. "I'm glad to know that. But Alice explained to you about the pain. It is considerable, perhaps counting…"

"No." Cassie interrupted the doctor more forcefully this time. "I don't need a distraction. I have my Vampire Angel. Now, please, I would like to watch." Carlise snapped his head in Alice's direction with a meaningful glare at the girl's words.

"Later." Alice whispered in response.

Turning his genuine smile on Cassie, Carlise nodded. "Very well, then." Carlise removed the syringe he had sequestered in his lab coat pocket, and slowly injected the contents of it into the port that was attached about halfway up the IV line that led into the back of Cassandra's hand. The girl's eyes had followed his movements carefully the entire time. He stood to the side and watched the young girl intently for any sign that the venom was starting to leak into her system yet. He didn't have to wait long before the signs he was looking for appeared. There was a gasp from Cassie and she squeezed Alice's hand even tighter than before. She was clearly starting to feel the pain of the venom in her veins. Carlise carefully watched the interaction between the two girls, as Cassie clinched her eyes closed, and tried to squirm around on the bed hoping for a more comfortable position to ease the burning ache in her body. Alice tried not to crowd Cassie, but at the same time felt an impossible need to try to comfort the young girl by massaging her arm where she knew the initial burn from the venom would be the strongest.

It felt like forever, but in reality it was only a couple hours when the venom had finished running its course, and Cassie was visibly less tense. Her breath was shallow, almost as if she was panting, and a thick layer of sweat still covered her body. Her voice was hoarse from the effort of holding back her screams. And her eyes were bloodshot from the tears she had been fighting. "Is that it? Am I cured?" She managed to wheeze.

"We don't know yet. We won't know for a couple days." Alice whispered the admission to the girl. "How do you feel?"

"Tired. Sore. Scared. Relieved." The girl panted.

Alice cut her eyes to Carlise briefly as if asking permission for something. The doctor nodded imperceptibly, and moved to the locked medicine cabinet in the corner of the small hospital room. "Here," he said handing the syringe he had prepared to Alice. Alice knew how to administer the clear liquid that filled the needle as well as any doctor or nurse in the hospital, and she was closer to Cassie than he was at the moment.

"This will help you get to sleep." Alice promised as she gently inserted the needle into the port on Cassie's IV and allowed the contents to drain into the girl's system. "Tell Jasper that I won't be home until late." Alice said as she handed the now empty syringe to Carlise.

The picture before Carlise couldn't have been more perfect. An exhausted child was quickly plummeting into the waiting arms of sleep, and a pixie sized Vampire was laying her head down next to the child's to keep watchful guard over her as she slept.


	5. Choosing Change

**Author's Note: Thank you so much to those of you who are still following this story and to those of you have added it to favorites and alerts. Again, any reviews and constructive criticisms are very much appreciated. Criticism without telling me how I can improve is not. I have tried to keep to cannon as much as possible and do research when necessary, but if there are any glaring mistakes, please let me know, and they will be corrected. That being said, please enjoy this next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: All reconizable characters, places, and events are the property of the awesome Stephenie Meyers. No copyright infringment is intended.**

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"Look, Carlise, I just want to know if it's possible. Is it possible to meet Cassandra and still remain objective? Because I honestly don't know if I can handle another round with Alice like the one we had last night. It was the worst fight we've ever had. She just wants me to give Cassie a chance. She says that I won't be tempted because her blood simply just doesn't smell good. But it's not that I'm worried about. I've been working extra hard ever since Bella's birthday party because I never wanted to feel what I felt from Alice that night ever again. It's the attachment I'm worried about. I'm afraid that once I meet Cassandra, and feel what she's going through, I'll never be able to tear myself away. She already has everyone else in the family except Emmett wrapped around her finger. Children can do that. I just think that someone needs to be able to keep a clear head in case this doesn't end with Cassandra being cured. If it comes to the point when we have to destroy her, someone needs to be ready. I know that it's going to kill Alice if that someone is me, but I don't see any other options. That's why I'm coming to you. Is there any solution that will make everyone happy, and stop the fighting, but still allow the contingency plan to move forward?" Jasper was almost begging his adopted father to provide him with the answers that he so desperately needed. He was broken after his fight with his one love the evening before, and the only way to find healing was to meet Cassandra. But again, that option wasn't feasible in the warrior's mind. So, he was looking to the one person whose advice he could trust in this situation. Fortunately, he could do so without having to go into any details from the fight. Carlise would have been able to hear the entire thing for himself.

"Jasper, you're allowing yourself to broadcast your emotions right now." Were the first words out of Carlise's mouth.

"I'm sorry." The younger man apologized quickly, and closing his eyes, somehow managed to reign in his emotions, so that the room returned to a state of neutrality and calm.

"There was no need to apologize, it was simply an observation." Carlise continued what he had been saying. "But thank you. Now, on to more important things. Just like with some of the past situations this family has endured, there is no staying objective and neutral when it comes to Cassandra. I know how this is going to sound, but there is no other way to describe it. You're going to have to pick a side eventually. Now, before you say anything else, I want you to really think about it. If you choose to take Alice's side that means you're also taking Cassandra's side. If you choose not to take Cassandra's side, then you're choosing not to take Alice's side. The two of them have become that intertwined. Furthermore, the contingency plan you mentioned, let's call it what it is-euthanasia. I don't think that is an option any longer. Alice insists that she's strong enough to handle it if it comes to it, but I don't think that she is. Regardless, this isn't a decision that I can make for you. It has to be your own choice. Oh, and don't hold anything that she may have said last night against her. It was very difficult for her to watch Cassandra's first treatment of double V solution yesterday afternoon."

"I know you can't decide for me. I guess I just needed to hear you say it. I don't have to tell you how bad this could get. If Cassandra…" Jasper trailed off knowing that Carlise would know what he meant.

"No, you don't have to tell me. I know."

"Carlise, this is very important. If I make this decision, you must promise me that when the Volturi find out, and they will find out, it's only a matter of time, that you hold me accountable for the decision. Let me take responsibility for it. You can tell them that I acted without your support and you didn't have the heart to destroy me yourself, and they'll let you go. I'll be the only one to suffer. And before you protest, it has worked before. Maria ordered me to do some pretty deplorable things. Things that the Volturi would have destroyed me for if they knew of my involvement. I was a coward and hid behind my men when it came down the judgment. I told the Volturi that my men acted without my support, and that they were too good of warriors for me to destroy myself. Aro wasn't involved, so he couldn't touch me and detect my lie. I threw my men under the bus, and was allowed to go free. Maria was very pleased, and I got some very nice rewards out of it." He said the last part with bitterness and hatred.

"I will hold you accountable for your decision, Jasper. But I will also hold myself accountable for my own. You don't have to sacrifice yourself."

"Thank you for that, Carlise, you're a better man than I was then, or than I am now. But I won't let you do that. If I make this decision, then it's going to be for full responsibility. No one else should have to suffer. Alice is my mate, and Cassandra and will be our responsibility, if we make that decision." Jaspers words were final as he rose from his chair across from Carlise's desk. "Now, I have some thinking to do, so if you'll excuse me."

"Of course, Jasper, I should return to my work as well." Carlise said in dismissal, and picked up his ink pen to continue working on the notes that he was making.

Jasper didn't have to think for long, by the time he had walked at a human pace from Carlise's home office to the Cullen living room, his decision was made. "Rosalie." He greeted his sister who was sprawled out on the sofa flipping through an automotive magazine of some sort. "I need a favor."

"Well, hello, to you too." She said sarcastically, and with one fluid motion was sitting up straight on the sofa to face Jasper. "What can I do for you? Need me to remove the distributer cap from Emmett's jeep again? What did he do this time?"

"No," Jasper quickly denied. "It's nothing like that. Alice hasn't hunted in almost four days. Would you mind going to the hospital and kidnapping her for a quick meal? I'm worried about her. I would do it myself, but I have something else that needs to be done. I would really appreciate it."

"Sure, I'll go. But let's be honest. It's not because you have something else to do, it's because you don't want to risk Alice forcing you into seeing Cassie. I don't know what your problem is with that child, but you need to get over it, and fast. Before you ruin your relationship with Alice." Rose was angry, and Jasper could feel it.

"Oh, you're one to talk. Just keep out of it, Rose." Jasper replied, shooting a wave of calm at the beautiful blonde. "I'll see you later." He said simply as he ran out the back door and into the forest, taking the long way around to the hospital.

Jasper easily found Cassandra's room at the hospital. Alice's scent was so strong in the room that it almost smelled like home to him. He knew from what Alice had told him that the nurses weren't scheduled to check in with the girl for at least another hour, and Cassandra's parents wouldn't be there until later that night. That should give him plenty of time for his clandestine meeting with the girl child. "Cassie?" He spoke to the lump in the bed quietly as he tapped on the doorframe to announce his arrival.

The lump moved slightly, and Cassie poked her head out from beneath the bed sheet, struggling to see who was at the door. She blinked a few times in tired confusion, then in a hoarse voice whispered. "Jasper?"

"Yes. How did you know it was me?" The male vampire asked as he came fully into the room at a slow human pace. He didn't sit, choosing instead to stand by the girl's bedside.

"Alice. She described you perfectly, and she showed me a picture." Cassie admitted shyly. "Please, sit down. It's so good to finally meet you. I thought you'd never come to see me. Alice said that you weren't ready yet, that blood still bothers you way too much to be around humans for long."

Jasper was a little surprised at her openness in talking about a vampire trait. Even though, he knew that she knew the truth, it was still shocking to hear it as part of her normal conversation. "Yes. But she was right about your blood. It doesn't bother me like I thought it would. It almost makes me regret not getting over myself to come see you sooner." There was no point in telling the girl the real reason behind his hesitation.

"Alice said there would never be any danger of a vampire wanting to eat me. Do I really smell that bad? Alice won't tell me. She says that it would scare me too much to talk to me about stuff like that."

"She's right. It would scare you. But I'll tell you if you promise to let me calm you down after. A little fear, especially when it's about something this close to you, is good. I won't ever hold anything back from you." It was one of the things that Jasper had privately insisted needed to be part of any decision that he made. If he chose to get involved by taking Cassandra's side, then he would have to do so a hundred percent. He wouldn't hold anything back from her. He would be the one to tell her the entire truth. If it came down to a question of changing her, then he would be the one to tell her what it was really like to be one of them. If she reacted badly to it, then he could always help her calm down. But full disclosure had to be the name of the game if he was going to get involved. Edward had hidden too much from Bella in the beginning. He wouldn't allow Alice to make that mistake with Cassandra. As long as he was there to negate the effects of any emotional reaction, it would be fine.

"How does that work anyway? Alice said that you could manipulate emotions, but she didn't go into any details." Cassie asked as she attempted to sit up in the bed.

"It's complicated." Jasper reached out a hand to help the girl sit up. "May I?" At Cassie's nod, Jasper gently lifted the child into a sitting position, and continued. "The best way to explain it is just to show you. For instance, right now you're curious, and excited, but you're also tired and in pain. I can take those last two away for you if you'll let me." Cassie nodded her agreement and met Jasper's gaze, following his eyes downward to where he held her small, fragile hand in his larger, stronger ones. "Alright. How's that?" He asked as he poured calm into the small body on the bed.

"Better. Good actually. I mean, logically, I know that my body is still probably physically tired and in pain, but I don't really feel it anymore. My focus is shifted. I just feel calm." Cassie explained what had happened to her in the best way that she knew how.

"That's right. I'm surprised at how quickly you figured that out. Most people think that I actually effect the physical body too when it comes to tiredness and pain. But you got it exactly right on the first try. You must be very intelligent for your age."

"Yeah, I'm starting to hear that a lot." Cassie admitted with a laugh. "I really like this. I mean, I know it's artificial, but I still like it. Having my emotional focus shifted really helps, don't stop."

"I won't." Jasper quietly promised. "Now about your blood, you don't smell bad. Just not appetizing. I would have to be starving before I would drink your blood. And even then, it would have to be fast before I could think about it, like drinking cough syrup. Or drinking your own urine to stay alive. Or eating the flesh of your dead comrades like the surviving members of the Donavan party were forced to do. If I was desperate, I could do it, but otherwise, there would be no chance."

"That's not scary. That's just gross." Cassie admitted with a scrunched up face.

"I know. The scary part is that despite how you smell, I would still drain you if given the proper motivation. A paper cut for example. If you were to get a paper cut, and I watched as it bleed, none of that other stuff would matter. I would still attack. And so would Alice, for that matter. Ah, and there's the fear." Jasper commented as Cassandra's emotions flooded his system. He quickly replaced her fear with calm before it had a chance to get out of control.

"Why did you just say all of that?" The girl asked bewildered. "Are you trying to scare me? Because I think you are. I think that you're testing me. Trying to find out if I still want you to be my friends, to be my Vampire Angels, even after you overstate what you're capable of. Maybe if you hadn't already denied the evil part of you, it would have worked. But you have, and all that remains now for you, my Vampire Angel brother, is the good. You aren't capable of that. Not over a paper cut."

Jasper sucked in a breath of surprised air at hearing the name Cassie had called him. Her Vampire Angel brother. Closing his eyes, he forced himself not to think about the implications of what she had just said. She had accepted him so quickly, just as she had accepted Alice, and she had instantly placed as much responsibility on him as she had on his wife. This could be bad. Cassandra had chosen to trust him just as she trusted Alice. He wished he could tell her that it was a mistake, but he couldn't. After all, wasn't that the very role he had insisted to Carlise just an hour earlier that he would take in Cassandra's life? He wanted to be held accountable for this decision, and now Cassie had insisted on his role of responsibility as well by calling him a simple three word name.

Bringing himself back into the current time and place, he forced himself to respond to the last part of Cassie's speech. "It has happened before." Jasper said seriously remembering the paper cut that nearly ruined his family.

"But I'm sure that you learned from it. And that it won't happen again. You're too good for that my Vampire Angel brother." Cassie insisted.

There was that name again, but he had to force himself not to react too strongly to it. "Sometimes, I don't know." Jasper spoke sadly, but he could feel the genuine belief that Cassie had in him and in Alice.

"But I do." She said simply and a wave of silence crashed down on the room as Jasper continued to hold her hand and she continued to pour what she could of her confidence and trust in his control into him. They sat together like that for so long that they both lost track of how long it had been. They sat together until a nurse came in the room to break them apart and check on her patient.

It had been three very long days since Carlise had given Cassandra her first treatment of double V solution. Thankfully, she hadn't changed into a vampire during those three days. Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten any better either. If anything her condition had worsened. And Alice was beginning to lose hope that it would ever work. Edward and Carlise had tried to reassure her, but she didn't want to listen to them. The next morning Cassandra would receive another radiation treatment, followed by her second D double V treatment 24 hours later. The new moniker was Emmett's idea. He had convinced Carlise that double V solution didn't sound complicated enough to be a new miracle drug. So, Carlise had agreed to add the D in front of the name. Vampire venom became diluted vampire venom. Her treatments over the next two days would be last she would receive before the Christmas holiday. Carlise had wanted to make sure that the last of the venom was out of her system before the big celebration. It would be one of the few times that the child would get to spend an uninterrupted period of more than a few hours with both of her parents. They had spoken to Carlise about coming to the hospital late in the evening on Christmas Eve and not leaving again until after lunch time on the 26th. Carlise had agreed to let them spend the extended time with their daughter. It would be good for the entire family. And it would be good for his family too. Hopefully with Cassie's parents at the hospital, certain members of his family would find the overwhelming desire to spend all day and all night with the child easier to resist.

"The treatment is working, Alice. It's just a slower process than what we would have liked to have seen, and it's not as complete as we anticipated in beginning. But Edward and I are working very hard to modify the treatment based on what we've learned and we hope to have Cassandra fully healed very soon." Carlise insisted, trying to keep his daughter calm after the latest visions that had assaulted Alice sent her flying into the living room where Carlise, Esme, Edward, and Bella were watching something on TV. It had looked like the history channel, but Alice had ignored the noise coming from the large black rectangle hanging on the wall, and started yelling at Carlise that it wasn't working, and that he and Edward should be trying harder instead of watching television.

"I know you're trying, and yet I keep seeing her dead." Alice insisted. "So, it must not be working." Alice's expression could only be described as desperate as she clung tighter to Jasper. Her mate hadn't left her side since he had told her that he too had finally gone to meet and visit with Cassandra. Alice knew that Jasper had fallen in love with the girl child too, and for that she loved him even more.

"She's a fighter, Darlin'. Everything always looks worse before it gets better. In the end, everything will be ok. It'll all work out just like it always does. You'll see it all soon, I'm sure of it." Jasper tried to comfort her with his words, since she had insisted that he not try to manipulate her emotions until she could get a better vision of Cassandra's future.

"Alice, don't do anything rash. I know what you're thinking and it's not a good idea. If you try to change her before either of you are ready, you could be the reason she ends up dead in your visions. Just let things play out a little while longer." Edward cautioned as he heard Alice's thoughts about attempting to change Cassandra now rather than later.

"Look at what we've become, Rose!" Emmett could be heard from all the way upstairs. He and Rosalie had chosen not to follow the distraught Alice and Jasper downstairs to attend what had become a family room discussion concerning Cassandra. Thankfully, Nessie was in Edward and Bella's cabin with Jacob and wasn't present to hear what Emmett said next. "The Cullen family. We seek out helpless humans, force them to care about us, and risk everything, even our very existences, to protect them. And for what? So we can change them on a whim! We've become so selfish, so greedy. We're no better than the nomads. We're creating our own little army of vegetarians just to prove that it can be done. We recruit, dazzle, and then wham-o! You're one of us now!"

"I thought you were all for changing Bella." Rosalie told him sweetly, causing Edward to cringe downstairs in the living room.

"Bella was different." Emmett could be heard mumbling.

"Different how? I think it's the same. Edward fell in love with Bella. Alice fell in love with Cassandra. Bella wanted it. Cassandra's dying, and it may be the only way to help her live. Both of them knew the truth long before it came down to a decision on changing them."

"I still don't like it, she's too young. And I'll bet that Alice hasn't told her anything close to the whole truth about what we are."

"No, but Jasper's been talking to her too, and he wouldn't hold anything back. And yes, she is too young to be changed now. But not too young to be changed at some point in the future, when she's older."

"She might not make it that long, Rosalie! Have you seen Carlise's file on her? No matter what he says, the numbers in his file don't lie. I'm sick of risking my existence for humans who might one day be one of us."

"What if it was you Emmett? What if you were the one to fall in love with a human? Either as a mate or as a child?"

"Ha! Like that could ever happen!"

"Have you ever spent any time in the children's ward at the hospital? It's hard not to love those kids." As Rose spoke, Jasper hissed from downstairs and squeezed Alice's hand. Emmett's comment had deeply hurt Rosalie, and he could feel every ounce of her pain.

"Well maybe I'm not a softie like you and Alice." Jasper hissed as the pain he was feeling from Rosalie doubled. And now there was added pain from Alice as well.

"A softie? Is Jasper a softie too? He cares about Cassandra just as much as Alice does."

"He's doing it all for Alice's sake. He says he cares because he knows that it makes her happy. Kind of like I did for you when you defended Renesmee. I let you think that I cared too, when really I was on Edward and Jasper's side at first, just wanting to get that freak of a monster out of Bella and protect the family in case whatever the thing was ended up being dangerous. I know better now, but then I was just humoring you. And Jasper is just humoring Alice until something proves him wrong. He knows how much trouble we'd get in if Alice turned Cassandra." This time, Jasper felt everyone in the house as they reacted to Emmett's out of control tongue. There was shock, pain, surprise, and his own confusion. Is that what he was doing? Pretending to love Cassandra just to protect Alice? No. He would know if he was consciously leading her on. He did sincerely love Cassandra despite what his brother thought he knew about him and his motivations.

"No, Emmett, you're lying! You love Renesmee and you always have!"

"Now, yes. Then, no. Then, I would have killed her myself if she turned out to be like the vampire children of old. Horrible, untrainable monsters. If she was that, I would have ripped her to shreds and burned the pieces."

"Oh, no you wouldn't have!" Everyone could sense that Rose wanted to say more, but she was holding back, trying to understand where Emmett was coming from with his accusations, and terrible, hurtful words. No one else would have had the patience for it, but Rose still loved the jerk, and was trying so hard to get him to understand her position as hard as she was trying to understand his.

"Yes I would! And Bella knows it too!"

Bella could take no more of the fighting. She tore herself away from Edward's side in the living room, and dashed up the stairs, arriving at Rose and Emmett's room in less than the blink of an eye. "He's right, Rose, he would have. And I did know it then." Bella's voice was painfully quiet as she spoke from the doorway.

"How do you really feel about all of this, Bella? Are you just humoring Alice too? I mean, you were the last one of us changed, and everyone's comparing Cassandra's situation to yours. So, forgetting that you're supposed to be Alice's best friend, what do you think?"

"I think that…I really hope Carlise's treatment plan works. Edward says that it doesn't make any sense why it hasn't started helping her, even just a little."

"Well, that's easy enough to answer. Venom was meant to hurt, torture, and kill, not to help, and to heal."

"Finally, the beast is right about something." Rosalie admitted. "But I think that it has more to do with the fact that her disease has spread too far. By the time Milligan came to Carlise, it was too late. The only thing that can save her at this point is changing her. I know it, so does Edward and Carlise, and so does Alice. The difference is that Alice is the only one crazy enough, attached enough, the only one with enough love in her to do it."

"But she doesn't have to do it. Cassandra could just die like a human was born to do!" Emmett said forcefully, interrupting Bella and Rose's conversation.

"Or Carlise and Alice could change her. If she understands what will happen when she's changed and she's willing to do it, then I don't see a problem with it." Bella's voice was still soft as she spoke.

"We can't change everyone we meet who's dying. You're new to this, but Rosalie knows better. If we create too many vampires, the Volturi will get involved. No, it's not like it's an army of newborns trying to steal territory for us, and they'd obviously be trained to be animal drinkers like us, but unlike you, they wouldn't have a shield to keep them from messing up. And that's one thing that Jasper would agree with me on. And no, you alone wouldn't be able to shield all of them, all of the time. Besides, worse than that, if too many animals start to disappear, humans begin to get suspicious, and they start asking too many uncomfortable questions. The Volturi would have to get involved to prevent too much of a noticeably negative impact on the environment. But you want to know what the real problem with this whole situation is? The problem, Bella, is that she is a _child_. Do you know what the Volturi would do to us if they found out that Carlise or Alice changed a _child_ and that the rest of us allowed it to happen? I thought that you understood the repercussions of all of that when we went through the thing with Nessie. I guess you're still too young, too much a newborn to either understand or to care about, or at least to respect, the rules that govern our kind. Maybe Jasper needs to teach you a little better. I mean he's really the only one of us qualified to train a newborn, and if you don't understand the Volturi's laws by now, he must not be doing his job."

Bella was stricken speechless by the harshness of Emmett's words. She was hurt by what he had said, but true to vampire nature, her face showed none of the pain that she was feeling inside. She didn't move, didn't speak, didn't blink, and didn't even fidget for what seemed like hours.

Suddenly the rest of the family appeared in the hallway behind Bella, and Edward was clearly furious. He was trying his hardest not to lunge for Emmett and rip his head right off of his body. No one spoke to his wife like that. No one. And that included his brother.

Sensing Bella's unease and Edward's boiling rage, and needing to do something to diffuse the situation before it got worse, Jasper did the only thing that he knew to do in situations like this. He sent a wave of calm to the entire room, and then spoke in a voice that made it clear that he wasn't going to lift the blanket of calm until everyone got their emotions under control on their own. "That was a low blow, Emmett. And I'm not talking about what you said about me. I'm talking about the fact that in the past five minutes you have somehow managed to insult my wife, Edward's wife, and even your own wife. And if you knew what Esme was feeling right now, you'd be amazed that all the women in this house aren't joining forces to rip you apart. Edward, I think you should take Bella to y'all's cabin now. And Emmett, maybe you should just get out of the house for a little while, and take Rosalie with you. Esme, Alice and I would very much like it if you could join us for a nighttime game of Scrabble."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Carlise agreed with Jasper's words, turning the suggestions into orders.

Everyone moved to carry out their instructions, but Alice held up a hand to stop everyone from leaving. "I do have one more thing to say in Cassandra's defense. And I think that it will answer some of the fears that Emmett has. The Volturi have never even set an arbitrary age limit for what constitutes a child. It's pretty subjective actually. When that rule was created and put into place, a child was considered anyone who could not work outside of the home to help support his or her family. I think that when the Volturi put into place the law about changing children, they intended the measure of a child to be maturity, not physical age. Children ceased to be children by age 8 or 9 during some of the rougher years in human history. And although, it has never been publically disclosed, Jane and Alec are no more than 13 or 14 human years old. By the original definition of a child, based on maturity level, kids today stay kids much longer, often even beyond the age of 18. But Cassandra is extremely mature for her 11 years. She won't have any more trouble controlling her newborn urges and her bloodlust than the rest of us, excluding Bella of course."

"Great! So now, not only are we sticking…"

"Emmett!" Edward snapped out with a growl as he read the rest of the sentence in Emmett's head. "Don't you dare say the rest of that out loud, or I will help Alice burn you at the stake. And no amount of calming vibes from Jasper can stop us."

Emmett immediately fell silent for a full five seconds before retaliating. "Fine, then, since I didn't get the chance to say it out loud, I don't have to apologize for it or anything else I've said tonight. So, if that's what you're hoping to accomplish by kicking me out of the house, then you've failed. I'm not going to say I'm sorry for anything, because I'm not."

If Rosalie could have cried, she would have been standing in the middle of a pond. She couldn't believe the horrible way that her husband was acting. "Emmett, I think you're going to be on your own tonight. Get out. Now. Jasper, may I play scrabble with you and Alice and Esme? It seems my husband no longer cares to spend time with me."

Jasper had to swallow back the pain that was radiating from Rosalie. He placed a single hand on her shoulder and sent her as much calm as he could muster. His eyes however were focused on Emmett, and he was sending his brother all the rage and pain that the rest of the family was feeling. "Leave Emmett. Before I physically remove you." He continued to glare into the back of Emmett's head, as the other vampire finally started to run away.

Emmett was half way to Canada before he stopped running. What had made him say those awful things? Out of everyone in the family, Rosalie was the one person that he never wanted to hurt. Yet, that was exactly what he had done. He didn't think that it was possible, but he only had to look at Rosalie for a fraction of a second to know that what he had said to her had cut her deeper than any vampire or wolf tooth ever could. It was too late now. The words had been said, and he could never take them back. Rosalie would never be able to look at him in the same way again. He had lost her trust and her confidence in him as a man and as her husband. She would never be able to forgive him for hurting her like that. Catching the distinct scent of a black bear not too far away, Emmett started to run again. Draining the bear would make him feel better, at least he hoped that it would. And if not better, at least it would make him feel a little less frantic.

Less than a second after Emmett ran away from the Cullen home, Alice grabbed Jasper's arm and dragged him up to their room. "I don't get it, Jazz. Why is he so against this?" She complained to him once their door was closed, effectively sealing out the rest of the house.

"He just…" Jasper started, but was interrupted by more of Alice's ranting.

"I mean he was all for it when it came to Bella. It was ok to change her when Edward was going to do it, but as soon as I want to change a human, it's no way, no how. I don't see any difference between what happened with Bella and what is happening now with Cassandra. At least not in so far as changing a fully informed, mature human is concerned."

"But there is a difference, Alice." Jasper said the words slowly, hoping not to upset Alice further, but needing her to understand Emmett's viewpoint for the good of the family. Emmett may have handled things in a completely wrong way, but his concerns were legitimate.

"Really? Like what?" Alice demanded with a cold stare.

Jasper winced at the emotions pouring from the love of his life, but continued anyway. "Bella is Edward's mate. There was never any denying that. Cassandra is just another sick child. I care about her as much as you do, Alice, you have to know that, but it won't literally kill us to see her die. It will be hard, it'll hurt, but we will manage to keep existing. Without Bella, Edward would die, he would stop existing. That's the difference."

"Would it have killed Carlise to see Edward die all those years ago when he chose to turn him instead of watching him waste away to nothing?"

Jasper could acknowledge that Alice did have a point. "No. But Edward was older than Cassandra, and Carlise was alone at the time. Even if we don't turn Cassandra, at least we're not alone, we have an entire clan that cares about us and we care about them."

"I don't know what you are talking about, Jazz. We are alone. We have Carlise and the others, yes. But not a family, a real family, our own family. Not children. It's been so good having Renesmee around. Don't you and I deserve the happiness that Bella and Edward have? Don't we deserve to have a family too? To have kids?"

Alice's sorrow was almost crippling for Jasper, and if he could have cried, he would have. He had never felt anything like this before and suddenly everything was starting to fall into place. His voice actually shook, and his words were so quiet that human ears would not have been able to detect the noise. "Is that what this is about?" The unexplained emotions he had been picking up on for the past several days now had a name. Maternal instinct. How had he not picked up on it before? After all these years of feeling the same thing from Rose, he had somehow missed the emotions in his own wife. Somewhere along the line, Alice had stopped caring about Cassandra as a little sister, and had starting loving her like a daughter. The line had been crossed and there was no going back. He stood unmoving, stunned and staring at Alice, refusing to respond as she gently stroked his arm.

"Yes, Jazz. I think that is what all this is about. It'll take some work, no, a lot of work to get everything in order, and make it happen. Carlise still needs to be convinced. And we'll need to get a lawyer to help us explain the sudden appearance of an 11 year old girl in the Cullen home. But I can't just walk away. I want to be a mother to Cassie. And before you say it, I know that she already has a birth mother, but not a mother who is there for her all the time like she should be, like I could be for her" Jasper could feel the internal tears building inside of her. "If you and Bella work together to manipulate her emotional state when she's thirsty and shield her from her hunger any time she's around humans during her newborn stage, then we can make this happen. We just have to get her through the first couple of years, and after that, I'm sure that she's mature enough to learn to control herself. It has to work."

Jasper still couldn't bring himself to say anything. His mind, however, was reeling with thoughts of everything that would need to happen if he was going to make this work for his mate. There had been times when he had thought about what it would be like to be a father. But not like this. Never like this. He would have to talk to Bella, but Alice's plan for Cassandra's newborn period had the potential for success. It would be a huge risk, but if Cassandra really could be taught to control her overwhelming urges and thirst, it just might work. And if it didn't…well, at least it wouldn't be the first time that he had to take care of an unruly newborn. There was of course the possibility that he would fall so deeply in love with Cassandra, that he wouldn't be able to find the strength to do it himself. That's where Emmett's tantrum that afternoon would be of some benefit. He would destroy Cassandra if Jasper couldn't.

"It'll work, Jazz. I promise. I was right about Bella, wasn't I?"

"This is different." Jasper finally managed to say, tersely. Trying not to broadcast his own emotions, he hesitantly made a decision against his better judgment, and without speaking it aloud. At least he would get to see Alice happy, if only temporarily. He instantly felt the woman in front of him go blank as she had a vision of his decision.

Opening her eyes, she beamed gratefully at Jasper, and jumped into his arms, embracing him tightly. "Oh, Jazz, I knew you'd come through for me! Thank you so much!"

"On a trial basis, I will eliminate Cassandra if I have to."

"You won't have to," she told him confidently, looking ahead to double check the predicated outcome that she had just promised. Unfortunately, she didn't see anything definite, and had to rush to hide her disappointment and sudden uncertainty from the empathy that was her husband.

"Just know that I will be prepared to do so."

"Just know that you won't have any reason to do it." As she spoke, she bounced up onto her tiptoes to plant a kiss on Jasper's lips. She let the kiss linger until her super senses picked up on someone walking down the hall toward their room. "Come on in, Rose," she said without raising her voice.

"If now's a bad time, I'll leave." Rosalie said as she entered the room and caught sight of the two standing entwined so close together.

"No, it's ok. Really. I need to go talk to Bella." Alice said happily as she danced from the room.

Jasper and Rosalie exchanged several looks between them, neither one quite knowing exactly how to break the silence that hung between them, and neither of them needing to use words at the moment. Rose was the first to speak nearly a minute after they had been left alone. "I want to apologize to you for the way Emmett acted earlier toward Alice…"

He quickly shook his head to stop Rose from speaking. "Don't. That wasn't your fault. You didn't know or encourage anything that he said. If anything, I owe you an apology for letting him go that far with you. I should have calmed him down more…"

"You, don't. It wasn't your fault anymore than it was mine. What he said was a long time coming. He's always resented me a little for the soft spot I have for children. The tension has always been there. At least now, the words have finally been said. It'll take a while for us to come back from this, but we will, eventually. And hopefully we'll be closer without the elephant in the room so to speak. He should have never taken it out on Alice, though."

"Maybe he thought she was a safer target."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, maybe he thought that he could say everything he has been struggling over with you to Alice and it would have less harsh consequences than saying it to you directly."

"Either way, I'm still sorry that he said it. He had no right."

"And I'm sorry that I couldn't control him. There, now we've said it, and cleared out our own elephant so to speak."

"Well, there is one more thing."

"What?"

"Cassandra. Are you changing her?"

"If Alice can convince Carlise to let her, then yes, we will be."

"I want to help. I know what you're thinking. That I'm the last vampire in existence that you ever expected to be willing to help change a human, and guide her through her newborn days, but I do have my reasons. Reasons that you can probably feel, but ones that I don't want to verbalize right now."

"It's ok, I don't need to know the reasons, it's enough for me that you are willing to help, no matter the motivation. And for that, thank you, Rose. We really do appreciate it. I'm sure you'll be a big help to us both. And to Cassandra. She's going to need all the help she can get in adjusting to the animal diet."

"Anything."

"What do you say, we go find Esme and get that scrabble game started?"

"Sounds good to me."

Meanwhile, Alice had made her way over to Bella and Edward's cottage and now sat talking with Bella. "Bella, I have a theory that I wanted to run past you. It involves both you and Jasper, and he's already agreed to give it a shot. So, now it's just up to you to decide to do it or not. If we can convince Carlise to change Cassandra, or let us change her without interfering, then we'll need to start preparing for her newborn days now. They're going to be more challenging to get through than any of ours were. She's so young that control will be harder for her to grasp and maintain at first. But once she has it, she won't let it go, a testament to her maturity, as I've already tried to explain. For those first couple of years, helping her learn control will be everyone's first priority. Jasper can help control her emotions, keep her happy, so that she'll have less of an urge to hunt and kill and lash out at anything that gets in her way. Emotions however, don't tell the entire story of a newborn's experience, as you probably remember. Thirst itself isn't so much an emotion, as it is an instinct. That's where you and your shield come in. If you work to project your shield around Cassandra while Jasper's manipulating her emotions, then she'll get through the first couple of years much quicker and easier than she would otherwise. I know that Carlise and Eleazar said not to get too carried away with thinking that your shield would be the cure-all that we all hope it is, but you proved that it can be extremely powerful when you protected Edward against Aro and all of us against Alec. I think that the easy newborn component of your shield can be projected just as easily as the mind protection component."

"It wasn't exactly easy." Bella admitted honestly.

"Ok, so maybe not easy, but effective. Just as effectively. So, what do you think?"

Bella's look was hesitant and if Jasper had been present, he would have felt the worry and concern and self-doubt pouring from her. She shook her head slowly to herself. "I don't know Alice. I've just now started to get the hang of the mind protection component of my shield as you put it. And I don't know how good I would be at the other stuff. I haven't had a chance to practice stretching out the so called easy newborn side of it. But this is really important to you and that makes it important to me. I can promise to try, but I can't promise to do anything else. And if it doesn't work, then…"

Alice didn't give her a chance to finish her sentence before interrupting. "With you and Jasper working together, it can't go wrong. It will work. It has to work." She insisted with a small cheer.

"I don't want to see you get hurt if it goes badly. If we can't…if I can't hold up my end of the bargain, and Cassandra does end up out of control or killing a human, I know that it will break your heart, and I don't want to do that to you. But I will try."

"Not everyone's transition was as easy as it was for you Bella. If my unbeating heart can survive all the times that Jasper messed up, and everything that I did before learning to maintain my animal diet, then it will survive this. The important thing is that Cassandra learns control and keeps it in the end. Everything in between is just part of the game, so to speak. All I ask is that you try your hardest to make the in-between easy for her, but I don't expect perfection."

"Ok. Then, we're on the same page. I'll do my best."

"I know you will. Now, if you don't mind, I think that my husband is waiting for his scrabble partner. Rosalie is going to make me promise not to cheat, but Jasper and I are still going to win. It should be fun."

Bella laughed at Alice's prediction. It was funny-odd that even though her sister promised not to cheat whenever they played bored games, she always predicted that she would win the game. And more often than not, she did win, even when Edward promised that she hadn't cheated once the entire time. She was just that good.


	6. Come Let Us Celebrate

**Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay in updating. I decided at the last minute that this chapter was missing some very important explanations, so had to edit them in. I think it's better with the extra changes, but I'll leave it to all of you to decide if the final version is any good. Reviews are always appreciated, just be sure that they are constuctive. Thanks again to everyone who is still following the story, and adding to favorites and alerts.**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, and events are the property of the awesome Stephenie Meyers. No copyright infringement is intended. The Whosamawhatsits brand name and lyrics are mine. More lyrics from this original fictional band are available upon request. **

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It was one of those rare interruptions from the mundane task of day to day existing for the Cullen family. For Carlise, the religious significance of the day really was a top priority. For Bella and Nessie, it represented one of the last times they would be able to have a family celebration that included Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Renee. But for Alice, it was simply another excuse to host a party. And this year, the highlight of Alice's grand masterpiece would be an extra special trip to the hospital to visit Cassie. As much as Carlise and Dr. Milligan, and even Jasper to some extent, had tried to convince her to stay away and let Cassie spend the holiday with her parents, Alice had refused. She insisted that since this was most likely the girl's last Christmas, at least as a human, it was important to make it special and memorable for her. She had spent hours shopping for the perfect gifts with every member of the Cullen family, except Emmett of course. She had bought Cassie everything from hair bows to the latest in fashionable attire to a complete art set with crayons, markers, colored pencils, water colors, and oils. The last one had been Jasper's idea. And Rosalie, not to be outdone by her brother, bought a lifetime supply of coloring books and sketch pads for the child. Edward and Bella chipped in with Carlise and Esme to buy the complete series of _Mandie_ books that Alice had discovered were a secret passion of Cassie's. Edward had also picked up a copy of the latest CD by _The_ _Whosamawhatsits_ when he discovered the lack of musical influence in the stash of gifts for the girl. But more importantly than all of that, Alice had decided that today, Christmas day, would be the day she would tell Cassandra that they could change her, and ask her if she would like to become a Cullen.

"I'm going to be there when you tell her," Jasper had insisted almost daily since Alice had told him her plan.

"Jazz…" she started to protest against his latest plea to join her in her trip to the hospital. But instead of finishing her protest, she paused, made a different decision to test the outcome, and was rewarded with a vision to let her know everything would be ok if she let her mate join her that afternoon. "Alright, fine." She conceded. "I'm not fighting with you on this anymore. You can be there, but don't try to influence her decision, either with words or otherwise."

Jasper grinned wide at his wife when she finally gave in to his demand. "She needs to know the truth about this, Alice, and I just want to be there to make sure that she gets it. But you have my word, I will not influence her emotions, except to keep her calm if she starts to panic, and I'll keep everything I tell her objective."

"That's all I can ask." Alice said with a resigned sigh before standing up on her tip toes and planting a gentle kiss on Jasper's lips.

Within an hour, the couple was pulling into the now very well known visitor's parking lot of Forks Memorial Hospital. Alice's poor Porsche was stuffed to capacity with beautifully wrapped boxes, and craftily arranged gift bags. It took Jasper five trips from the car to Cassie's hospital room and back before all the presents were in her room and ready to be unwrapped.

Cassie's parents, Mr. and Mrs. West, were absolutely ecstatic when they saw all the gifts that Alice had brought for their daughter. They had only been able to afford one small package, given all of the medical bills they had to pay the past year. Despite the mysterious large donation that had been made on Cassandra's behalf, they had yet to catch up on the house payment and the utility bills. But none of that seemed to matter now. Cassie had loved the royal blue sweater that her parents had given her and had immediately insisted on putting it on over her hospital gown. Besides being adorable, it had the practical application of keeping her warm. It seemed that lately, no matter what the young girl did, she was always cold. But not when one of her Vampire Angels was around. Despite their frigid skin, she could always get warm if she sat hugging one of them for long enough. It was like their warm insides melted right through their cold exteriors and seeped right into her to keep her comfortable.

Mr. and Mrs. West and Jasper and Alice all gathered around her bed as she eagerly and carefully opened every single gift that her Vampire Angels had brought to her. Cassie admired each gift in turn, making appropriate comments about how much she loved each one, and how obvious it was that Edward would get her music, and Alice would get her clothes, and everyone else would get her books and art supplies. "I really do love all of this, thank you so much, and tell everyone else thank you for me too. This is really great." She told the pair time and time again. Her smile actually managed to reach her eyes when she unwrapped several of the gifts, so Alice knew that the girl really was genuinely pleased, and not just being polite. Alice had half expected Cassie to stop about half-way through and proclaim that everything was too much and that she just couldn't possibly keep all of it. But every time Cassie made a point of thanking her and Jasper, Alice knew that the girl understood why they had gone to so much trouble. It was something they wanted to do and it had brought so much happiness and joy to the Cullen family to go shopping for Christmas gifts for someone else. It really was more blessed to give, especially when they had unlimited resources to spend.

Finally, Cassie had unwrapped her last gift, and Jasper was telling her all about the time that he had gone with Edward and Emmett to a _Whosamawhatsits _concert in Seattle as he carefully inserted the band's CD into the player in the corner of the room. He made sure that the volume would be loud enough to hear without interfering with their ability to have a conversation.

The first song on the disc was slow and beautiful, and Alice smiled to herself at the ironic meaning of the lyrics given what she and Jasper were about to say to Cassandra.

_Come let us celebrate this special season, _

_it's a time for all to gather round. _

_Come let us celebrate this holiday,_

_it's a time for loving family. _

_Come let us celebrate this Christmas Day,_

_it's a time to forget your cares. _

_Come let us celebrate these new directions,_

_it's a time to prepare for change. _

_Come let us celebrate what we were last year, _

_it's time to choose what we'll be next year. _

_Come let us celebrate the end of the old, _

_it's a time of thundering floods. _

_Come let us celebrate this new beginning, _

_it's a time of whispering winds. _

_Come let us celebrate this special season, _

_it's the time of a new season of twilight._

As the first song on the CD and Jasper's story drew to a close, Mrs. West motioned with one simple movement of her eyes for Alice to follow her out into the hallway. Mr. West had subtly excused himself about ten minutes earlier. Alice whispered too quiet for human ears to hear that she would return shortly, and for Jasper to continue to keep Cassie company before rising to follow Mrs. West.

Once they were safely out of earshot of Cassie, Alice opened her mouth to speak first, hoping to anticipate what the woman was going to say. "I'm sorry if we went a little overboard with all the gifts, but my family really loves to give. We didn't mean to put you in any kind of awkward position with Cassandra or anything."

Mrs. West held up a hand slowly to stop the small teenager in front of her. "No, no, it's not that. We understand completely, the desire to want to give Cassandra something special this year, since…since…well, the doctors think this could be her last Christmas."

"My dad told me." Alice blurted hoping to make the admission easier for Mrs. West by letting her know that Alice already knew. "But that's not why we did this. Every kid deserves a nice Christmas, not just the ones who may not have another one. We usually sponsor an Angel Tree kid, but this year everyone agreed to get something for Cassandra instead. We didn't do it to make you feel guilty, or anything, but we know how tight everything has been for you with medical bills, and this was our way of helping. Esme warned us that it might make you feel a little uneasy, and I promise that wasn't our intention."

"It's ok, Alice, really, now stop apologizing." Mrs. West smiled as she shook her head at the young girl. She still had so much more to learn in life. "I only wanted to tell you that I was going to leave you and Jasper alone with Cassandra for a little while now. And to tell you thank you for everything. I have a feeling that your dad had something to do with an anonymous donation that the hospital received a few days ago on Cassandra's behalf, and I also think that you had something to do with persuading him to help. So, for that we can never thank you enough. But more than that, you've been here for her when we couldn't be. She's improved so much since you started visiting her a couple weeks ago. And I don't just mean physically, I mean mentally and emotionally as well. I wouldn't have described her as having a negative outlook before, but now she's absolutely happy with her life as it is. She's never really talked about death before, but she told me today that when it does happen that she'll be ok with it. Because she knows how much she's loved by me and her father and you and your family. She calls your family her Guardian Angels. She said that when she dies everything will be worth it because all that you…all that we've done for her. Honestly, Alice, I don't know that I could have stayed this strong if it weren't for your influence. So, thank you, thank you so much, and make sure that everyone else in your family knows how much we've appreciated them too." Mrs. West started to break down as she tried to wish Alice a Merry Christmas in the only way she could afford. Normally, Alice would have never dreamed of what she did next as she brought Mrs. West into a giant, comforting hug, and allowed the woman to cry the tears that she needed to over her very ill child.

Inside the hospital room, Jasper could feel Mrs. West's pain and took pity on her long enough to send the woman a strong dose of calm and courage. Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. West didn't have the same type of unappetizing scent that their child possessed, and thus, he didn't trust himself to get too close to them. Otherwise, he would be forced to join his wife in the comforting embrace that she was now sharing with the pained mother.

Alice slowly released the woman, offering her one last gentle smile. "We won't be long." She promised in a small, soft voice as she turned to head back into the hospital room.

She slowly made her way back into the room, and sat down next to the hospital bed, checking to make sure that Jasper had come to stand next to her before she began. "Cassie, Jasper and I have something important that we want to talk to you about." Alice started. She was nervous, she knew that what she had to say to the girl could quickly change the mood from happy to distressed.

"What is it?" Cassie asked as her eyes flitted between her two Vampire Angels. She knew that she should be more curious about what Alice had to tell her. She was acting very nervous, as if what she had to say would be a bad thing. But there was nothing bad that could ever come out of her Vampire Angel's mouth. But for whatever reason, all she could feel was calm and happiness and contentment. "Jasper…" She groaned in an attempt to be frustrated. "If I had a choice, I would only be curious. You don't have to keep my emotions tied up and locked away. Honestly, I'm fine. It's healthy to actually feel things every now and then, you know."

Jasper grinned rather coyly and winked at his wife before responding, hoping that she wouldn't hit him for manipulating Cassie when there was no need. "It's not for you. It's for Alice. She's very nervous. Although, I don't know why. I promise that what we have to say is nothing bad."

"Cassie, if I told you that you had another choice besides dying or living your life as an empty shell, what would you say?" Alice blurted.

"I'd say that unless it means that Carlise's medicine is working, then I'm not interested. I've heard your dad talking to my parents about something. I don't exactly remember what he called it…youth-in-asia…something like that. Anyway, I heard him say that all he'd have to do is give me some kind of drug or something, and then I'd 'be at peace'. I'm young, but not stupid. I know what that means. And honestly, it kind of sounds like the easy way out. And I'm not interested in that."

Alice wasn't sure how exactly to respond to the news that Cassandra knew about their earlier plan of euthanasia. But that could wait until later. "That's not the other option that I had in mind. I was actually going to see how you felt about becoming one of us."

"A Vampire Angel? Me? Is that even possible? My book doesn't say anything about that."

"Yeah, it's possible. Difficult, but possible. Are you interested?"

"That depends. Tell me more. How? When?"

Alice took a deep breath before beginning. How she explained this next part to Cassie would make all the difference in the decision the young girl would make. She had attempted to decide on several different explanations, but her visions were blurry every time. There was no way of deciding what would be the best way of saying everything because Cassie's decisions in the matter hadn't been made yet. "Cassie there's a lot more than just how and when that you need to consider before you can make this decision. That part will come in time. But I'm glad that you are asking questions before making a snap decision because this is a big decision and it has to be your choice. I can't decide for you and Jasper can't decide for you. All we can do is provide the facts, and tell you that we would really love to have you become a Cullen and join the family completely in every sense of the term. But there is a small downside to existing forever, and before you can decide anything you need to hear about that as well." This was a lot harder than Alice had anticipated. The spark of hope in Cassandra's eyes was almost enough to make Alice forget telling her the entire truth and just let her decide now. But that was why Jasper was here. In a way, Alice now understood better than ever just what it was that kept Edward from wanting to tell Bella the whole story of who and what he was. In Bella's case, nothing he said could have changed her mind, and that had been Edward's worst fear. He didn't want to bring Bella into this life knowing how miserable it could be at times. For Alice, it was the opposite. Something she said now very well could change Cassie's mind, and if it did, Alice didn't know if she could handle it. She finally had a chance to have a family, her family, with a husband and a child. If she ruined that now, she didn't know if she could survive.

Jasper felt Alice's hesitation, and cleared his throat slightly to bring her back into the present. "Alice." He whispered as a word of warning. If she didn't do this, then he would. Because Cassie deserved to know everything so she could make a well informed decision.

"Ok." Alice whispered back to let him know that the message had been received. Returning her attention back to Cassie, Alice took one of the child's hands in her own and began the most difficult conversation that she would probably ever have to have. "Cassie, in order to become one of us, you'll have to go through a change. It's not really as simple as some modern theories want people to believe. There's a process involved. You see, we're venomous. Like a snake. When we bite a human, it causes immense, paralyzing pain." Alice watched as Cassie flinched at that statement, but she knew that she had to continue the explanation. "To give you an idea of just how painful, it's about a hundred times worse than the D double V solution that Carlise has been using to try to help treat your cancer. He actually used a small amount of my venom to create diluted vampire venom, D double V. Anyway, if we don't kill a human for whatever reason after beginning to feed on them, then the venom changes them into one of us. Some of our kind have managed to find a way to willfully change someone into a vampire by biting them, and allowing the venom to run its course. Carlise has been able to do it, and Edward has been able to do it. None of the rest of us have tried. It's too difficult and there's always a chance that we can kill the human we're trying to change. And if you do survive the change, then you need to know that this life is a lonely one. For the first year or two, you'll be so consumed by your heightened senses and emotions and an overwhelming desire to kill and satisfy the burning thirst for blood, that you may not be able to control yourself. You'll crave human blood above all else, and even if you're successful in maintaining the animal diet that Jasper and I do, that craving will never fully go away. As a vampire you'll never be able to go out in the sunlight where humans will be able to see you. You won't burn up in the sun. That part's a myth, but you will sparkle. It's so unnatural that if a human sees you, you'll be labeled as a freak and put all of us in danger. You won't grow older. You'll stay 11 years old forever. You'll never be able to drive, never be able to vote, or smoke, or drink, not that you'll want to do those last two, but you won't even be able to pretend. At most, you may be able to pass for 13 or 14 with enough makeup and the right clothes, but certainly no older. That will make it very difficult for you in the centuries to come. You'll never know what it's like to be an adult. You'll be a kid forever, and will always have to submit to some other authority, rather it's me and Jasper or Esme and Carlise, you'll always have someone else as a legal guardian that makes all the decisions for you, at least in the public eye. You'll always have to stay enrolled in school wherever we go, or pretend to be home schooled. Eventually, you'll want to learn things that go way beyond the knowledge level of everyone else you're age, but if you try to show off that knowledge, it'll just make people suspicious. Peers in school at that age can be vicious. There will be no hiding the fact that you are different and other kids will probably tease you and bully you because of it, and you won't be able to fight back without causing undo attention to yourself. And because the rest of us are so much older, we won't be able to attend the same school, at least as students, so you'll essentially be on your own, and if a mistake is made, there will be no one else there to help cover it up." Alice was shocked at how quickly and easily the words and ideas were coming to her and making it out of her mouth now that she had gotten started.

A faraway look had started to cross over Cassie's face, and now she blinked a few times and shook her head as all that Alice was saying started to overwhelm her. "Wow. That's…that's a lot to take in. And I don't think that I can process all of it right now. But what I am getting is that regardless of what happens to me outside of the house, when I come home at night, you'll be there. All of you will be there. I'll have a family of other Vampire Angels who love me and will look out for me, and keep me safe no matter what. There are things I'll miss by not becoming an adult, but not all of those are good things. I'll also never have to pay bills, or search for a lover, I'll never have to work at a real job, I'll never be expected to have to make grown-up decisions, and if I mess up, it'll be because I'm just a kid, not because I'm an incompetent adult. And while it is true that none of you will be able to pose as students at my school, I'm sure that one of you could pose as a teacher. So, I don't have to be alone. And no matter how difficult the first year will be, I'll have all of you with me to help me. So, if I can accept that I'll always need the rest of you to help me, then I think that I can accept the life that you're offering me. And you wouldn't be offering if you thought that the bad of that life outweighed the good. And there is a lot of good. I wouldn't have to sleep, I'd never get sick. I would have all the time I wanted to read and draw and learn new things. And whatever I do when I'm at home doesn't have to be the work of an 11 year old. No one would have to know that Cassie Cullen the famous writer or artist is really a kid."

Alice gasped to herself when the girl referred to herself with the last name _Cullen _for the first time. But before she could say anything else, Jasper spoke up for the first time. "Cassie, you'd also have to break all ties with the life you know now. You could never see your parents again. They would have to think that you're dead. Any friends that you have now would also have to think that for any of this to work. And we've planned to leave Forks very soon as it is, so you'll have to adjust to a new place fairly quickly. This isn't going to be easy no matter how you look at it."

"I don't care. I haven't heard one thing that makes my decision an automatic _no_. I also haven't thought of anything other than a life with the two of you that makes it an automatic _yes_. So, I think that what I'm saying is that I still need a few more days to decide. But I am really leaning towards wanting to be a Cullen, wanting to be one of you, wanting to be a Vampire Angel, wanting to be your sister for real, regardless of the cost."

Alice and Jasper exchanged a look knowing that they were thinking the exact same thing. That a sister wasn't really what Alice wanted when she persuaded Carlise to allow her to offer this option to Cassandra. What she really wanted was a daughter, but she wouldn't tell Cassie that right away. She would leave it up to the young girl to decide in what capacity she wanted to enter the Cullen family. There would be plenty of time to talk about her cover later, but not today. Later, she would tell Cassie what she had really been hoping, and let the child make the final decision.

Over the next week and a half, if Alice and Jasper weren't hunting, they were at the hospital with Cassandra going over and over the ways that her life would change if she chose to become a vampire. They had explored nearly everything that they could think of, and Cassandra seemed to have an answer for all of their worries and concerns. They had talked about everything from her never being able to grow up to her never getting to have children of her own, or even to be a real teenager. She would be a kid forever, and unlike Peter Pan, she wouldn't be able to escape her Never Never Land.

"I'm curious about something. You keep coming back to how difficult that first year is going to be if I decide that I want to be changed. And I can't help but wonder, how is thirst related to emotion? I mean, if newborns are emotionally immature and act out during that first year, then their thirst must have something to do with their emotion. Right? And if that's the case, then you can help me, can't you, Jasper?"

Jasper considered his answer carefully before speaking. He and Bella had tried to meld their abilities a few times while hunting as Alice had encouraged them to do, but it was still so new that he wasn't sure if it would help at all. And he hadn't said anything to Cassie about Alice's plan to use his and Bella's abilities to help her through that newborn phase. "It's complicated." He began slowly.

"Just like everything else is with you guys." Cassie commented with a roll of her eyes, bringing a smile to Jasper's face.

"It does seem that way sometimes." He chuckled. "In reality, emotion and thirst are two very different things. They are related only in the sense that one can make the other worse. Thirsty vampires often have short tempers and angry vampires are often more liable to act rashly in order to satisfy their thirst. I can help keep you calm at times like I use to do with the armies that I trained for Maria. But that was different. And there were times when I encouraged their rage and allowed their thirst to run out of control when we were in a battle. I would never do that to you, and if you don't have an outlet for your newborn emotions, they can very quickly get the best of you, and make you suffer more due to your thirst. I would be hesitant to try to keep you in a state of manipulated calm all the time for that very reason. But to answer your question, yes, on occasion, I should be able to help calm you, and thus, make the thirst easier to bare. But only occasionally. And there are other things that the rest of the family can do to help as well, but we don't know for sure how any of that will work, so forgive me for not telling you about them just yet. I don't want to get your hopes up in case we can't perfect what we have in mind. So, know that we are trying to find ways to make it easy for you, but don't count on being able to rely completely on any of that. Expect the first year to be extremely difficult, and don't expect much help. If we can help, then we will, but don't expect it. If it happens, great, but if doesn't, then I don't want you to be disappointed or regret your choice because we let you down. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, I suppose it does. Hope, but don't expect. Know that a surprise is more likely than a certainty."

"Yes, I think you have the idea. Besides, there are more important things for you to worry about than the first year as a vampire. Like the pain you'll have to undergo during the change itself if that is the decision that you make."

"Well, you once said that if I chose to die, you could be with me during the final moments in case there was pain, and you could help me through it. If you can do that and if you can help ease a vampire's thirst by keeping them calm, then surely you can help me through the pain of being changed. Can't you?"

Jasper really didn't want to get into all the details of how the change would be different than natural death or even the burn of thirst. "Perhaps." He said slowly and quietly. He would consider trying, but he wasn't confident that it would do any good. Alice gave him one of her famous looks, knowing what he was thinking, and essentially ordering him to abandon that line of thought. It would be a conversation for them to have at another time.

"Oh, besides, I'm not really worried about the pain. You see I'm a pain bearer." Cassandra announced, now becoming even more thoroughly engrossed in the conversation with Jasper. Usually, it was Alice doing all the talking with her, but today for some reason, Jasper was the one doing the talking.

"A pain bearer? What do you mean?" He asked the girl to clarify the unfamiliar term. A quick glance at Alice told him that she was no longer focused on the conversation at hand. He didn't think that she was having a vision, but it was clear that she was in deep thought about something other than what Cassandra was saying.

"Shh…" Cassandra shushed Jasper like she was trying to tell him a very big secret. "No one can know. We really aren't supposed to say anything. If they knew who we were, then they could come after us."

Jasper didn't even bother to ask for clarification this time. There was something in the childlike emotions that alerted him to the fantasy world that Cassandra was trying to introduce to them. He wasn't sure if it was a fantasy that she honestly believed, or if it was one that she was making up in order to lighten the mood or somehow convince them that she would be ok even if it was the most painful thing that she ever experienced. But somehow that didn't matter either. Instead he met the girl's gaze as a way of showing her that he was fully interested in what she had to say about being a pain bearer.

"You see, pain bearers are special. There aren't a lot of us. There's a lot of people who can use the same force that we do, but only a few who can truly be called a pain bearer. And I'm one of the youngest ever identified, I think."

"I do see." Jasper said, pretending to understand and follow Cassie's awkward explanation.

"Anyway, as one of them, I can handle much, much more pain than the average person. One of the most powerful ever discovered was able to withstand two million watts of electricity at once. He almost died, but he didn't. His name was Nick and he did it to keep his girlfriend, Saranda, and his sister, Kelly, safe. They would have killed them otherwise. Kelly's boyfriend Brad had to do it too, but he only had to go up to one and a half million watts. I'm not that strong. I could probably only handle a couple thousand, like maybe 30,000 watts comfortably and by 200,000 watts, I'd have to quit. Maybe 500,000 watts if it was to keep someone I loved safe, like you or Alice. But that can't be worse than being turned, can it? So, I'll admit that it's going to be hard, but pain bearers are survivors and so, I'll be ok. I'll handle it. For Alice, and for you. And it will be easier for me than it would be for somebody else. I can take it, I promise."

"I certainly hope you're right about that, Cassie." Jasper said solemnly, trying hard not to laugh at the story she had just told him. He had to admit that it wasn't much of a challenge to keep his knowledge of electricity to himself. Cassie didn't need to know the details of how wattage wouldn't hurt anyone and that it was amps that did the damage during an electrocution. It was cute and endearing to hear Cassie speak with such childlike innocence. He could tell that Alice was still removed from the conversation, so he continued on with a change of subject. "So, have you thought anymore about some of the more long term stuff that we've talked about? Pain bearer or not, eventually, it's going to be difficult on you, too. Never growing up won't be easy."

"We can handle emotional pain too. Some of us better than others. Like you. I bet you were what we call an emotional pain bearer when you were human. Someone who deals strictly with handling emotional turmoil. You'd be good at the physical too, but you'd be stronger with the emotional stuff."

"Yeah, I suppose that I could have been something like that." Jasper wished he knew what was distracting Alice so much from this conversation as something Cassie had said triggered a memory from long ago.

_It seemed so long ago now that he was driving the Mercedes with Alice and Bella in the backseat as they escorted the then human Bella to Phoenix to escape from James. That had been a very fateful trip from the beginning. He remembered that Bella had cried for a long portion of that trip. Alice had done the only thing that she could, and held the poor girl in her lap as the tears continued to fall relentlessly. He had stayed silent at first, allowing his mate to care for the human as much as she could, but as the seconds on the clock ticked away, and Bella continued to cry, Alice had finally broken the silence. Her voice was quiet so that Bella wouldn't hear her. "Can't you do anything to help her? This is killing me, as I'm sure it is you too."_

"_I'm doing all I can." His southern charm had been surprisingly absent as he spoke. "It's very difficult, I'll admit, but I have to concentrate on the road too. I can keep trying, but I can't promise anything. She's fighting me."_

"_Oh, Jazzy, I'm so sorry." Her voice had been truly sympathetic._

"_It's ok, my love. I can bear it. I'm sorry that I'm letting it affect me so much. I really will keep trying to get past her walls and help her." After that brief conversation, the car had fallen silent once more._

Jasper and Alice went home after visiting with Cassandra that night only to find Edward waiting for them on the front porch steps. "What's going on?" Alice asked, unable to see anything since Jacob was inside with Nessie.

"I want to talk to Jasper for a minute. You can go on inside." Edward said casually, not giving anything away.

"Sure." Alice said with a grin and danced inside the house.

"I just wanted to let you know that I got your message about not talking to Cassie about being a vampire." He said and tapped his head by way of explanation that he had overheard the thoughts Jasper had earlier that day when Bella had commented that she and Edward had been to see the girl. He paused and took a breath before continuing. "You were so accepting of my ground rules when it came to Bella," he admitted quietly. "So, I guess the least I can do is be accepting of your ground rules when it come to Cassandra. But just like you were with me, I'm on your side in all this. If you and Alice and Cassie decide that changing her is the way to go, then I'd like to help. But I'll take my cue from you just like you did with Bella. I appreciate that you never spoke aloud what you were thinking through all of that, so I won't speak about what I'm sure you know I'm feeling now."

"Thank you." Jasper said sincerely as he remembered the exact events that Edward was referring to, the conversation they had after Phoenix and the one after Bella's disastrous birthday.

"_Oh, and Jasper, one more thing, I expect you to continue to be extra careful around Bella despite your time in Phoenix. Do I make myself clear on that?" Edward had spoken seriously to his brother. _

_Jasper had opened his mouth to speak in protest, but quickly shut it again after sensing the wave of distrust and authority coming from Edward. "Yes, I'll be careful. I don't want to hurt her, Edward. I like her too, you know."_

"_Good. But just the same, keep your distance." Edward's voice had held a strong note of warning to it, and Jasper had chosen not to argue with him. After all, if their roles were reversed and Alice was the human involved, and Edward had such weak control, then he would probably act the same way._

_Alice hadn't been as accepting as he had been of Edward's orders, as Jasper recalled. "Jasper, why didn't you just tell him? I mean it's obvious that you've come a long way, and have more control than he's giving you credit for. I've seen firsthand and extra hand that you can absolutely handle being around Bella without any trouble. You aren't going to hurt her anymore than Edward is. You should have told him that you could handle it instead of constantly letting him place you the box of being the weak one."_

"_But I am the weak one, Alice." He had admitted sadly._

"_Only because you keep saying you are." She had insisted._

"_I don't want to take that risk. I'm choosing to stay away from Bella because if I don't and something does happen, I don't think that I could ever forgive myself. Not to mention the fact that Edward asked me to, and I won't violate that request. Bella is his mate. If he doesn't want me around her, then I won't go against that."_

"_Ugh!" Alice had cried frustrated. "You guys and your stupid macho code!"_

"_Hey, someday, I'm going to need Edward to listen to one of my requests. He won't listen to me if I violate his trust now."_

"_Again, stupid boys and stupid macho code. You aren't going to hurt Bella."_

"_And what if I do?"  
"Don't think like that." Alice had ordered him and that was the end of the conversation._

_Then just a few short months later, Edward's worst fears were given merit, when on Bella's birthday, Jasper had let his guard down just a little too much and got just a little too close. He had tried to kill her over a paper cut, and to this day, over two years later, he still hadn't fully forgiven himself. Edward had eventually forgiven him, but he hated himself for the near massacre._

_When Emmett and Rosalie had finally managed to push and pull and drag him into the Cullen yard, he was still fighting to get to the source of the sweet human smell. In his rage, he was blind to all else around him. Emmett had to literally pin him to the ground, and even though he denied it, Jasper was certain that his teeth had made contact with the larger man's shoulder and neck. They both knew the truth behind the new scars that Emmett had sported after that night, but he was too much of a gentleman to admit it._

_It had taken a long time for Jasper to come back to reality. He could see Esme with a very sad look on her face in one corner of the yard and Rosalie with a smug, I-knew-it look on her face in the other corner. Alice and Edward and Carlise were all still inside with Bella. He knew from the lack of taste in his mouth that he hadn't actually bitten her. But she probably hated him just the same. Then he remembered Edward's reaction of pushing Bella back onto the pile of glass plates and birthday cake that Alice and Esme had so carefully arranged to be 'photogenic' as they called it. He had growled as the flood of swirling emotions around him started to sink in. It was all too much. Anger. Disappointment. Concern. Probably for Bella. "Get off of me!" He had snarled at Emmett. There was hesitation, and Jasper had acted rashly by grabbing his brother's shoulders and fighting him off while sending him a wave of terror and cooperation. Without another word, he was free and running into the forest. He could vaguely recall finding a herd of deer and pouncing onto one like a lion. He remembered the lack of pleasure as he drained the beast, and could remember vaguely the sense that he wasn't alone, but the words that the various members of his family were saying to each other escaped him. _

"_Go talk to him, Edward." Esme had begged._

"_No. I have nothing to say to him." Edward's voice had been cold and unemotional._

"_Just kill me and get it over with. Before Alice comes to witness it." Jasper's words were pained and he didn't look at Edward as he spoke them. His brother would be totally justified if he killed him. After all, Jasper had tried to kill his mate._

"_I'm not going to kill you. Esme would never let me. And Alice would find out, and I don't want her to kill me. I'd rather just kill myself. But just the same, I'm never going to forgive you for tonight." Edward's voice had still been cold and unemotional, but he didn't stick around, running back toward the house._

"_Edward!" Esme had gasped in horror, but she was ignored._

_He knew that Alice had been torn. She had heard Edward's final words, and didn't know if she should run back after him, or stay to console Jasper. Esme was already starting to move in his direction._

"_Jazz?" Alice had greeted her mate, reaching him first. "It was just a silly accident. The same thing could have happened to any of us."_

"_But it didn't. It happened to me. It always happens to me."_

"_That's not true and you know it."_

"_Go, Alice!" Jasper had growled when he sensed her mood of indecision. "You know where I'll be when you're ready. Go take care of Bella and Edward. I'll wait."_

"_Jasper, I'll always choose you first." And her words were sincere. "Go to Denali, it's closer."_

_He shook his head. "No, I can't. I'm going to the diner, Alice, and I need you there with me. But go take care of Bella and Edward first."_

"_I will be there." Alice had promised, her emotions bringing her to the point where a human would be in tears. It was hurting Jasper to see her like this, to see what he had done to her. He took off running toward the diner where they had first met. The diner where he had chosen to become a vegetarian for Alice's sake. The diner where he had continued to return year after painful year, mistake after tortured mistake. True to her promise, Alice had met him there, and that began the most difficult months in their existence. _

Now, Jasper was gently brought back into the present as Alice came back out of the house to find out what was taking so long. She gently took his hand in hers and kissed each of the scars that graced the back of his hand and arm. "I love you." She said, allowing Jasper to feel just how true that was.

"I love you too." He said, sweetly returning the sentiment in both words and emotions.


	7. These New Directions

**Author's Note: Again, sorry for the long gap between updates, but this was another chapter that needed extra editing. Hope everyone enjoys! The songs used in this chapter are "Defying Gravity" from Wicked and "What if I Said" by Anita Cochran and Steve Wariner.**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable Twilight characters, places, and events are the property of the awesome Stephanie Meyers. No copyright infringement intended.**

* * *

Finally, the day that they had all been eagerly awaiting became a reality. Cassandra had decided that she wanted nothing more than to live all of her existence as a Cullen. The day had started off normally enough. Alice and Jasper left the Cullen home before dawn and stopped off for a quick breakfast of deer before heading over to the hospital for the day. Over breakfast, they had joked about the single New Year's resolution that Alice had made that year. To convince Cassandra to become a Cullen under the cover of being her and Jasper's adopted daughter. They didn't know at the time that the resolution was about to be fulfilled.

Thanks to Alice, they were able to time their arrival at the hospital for precisely the same time that Carlise was arriving for his shift. It wouldn't be hard for an observer to assumingly believe that Dr. Cullen had brought two of his foster children with him to work for the day. They had gone straight to Cassie's room as normal, happy to see that the girl was sitting up in bed reading the eighth book in the _Mandie _series. She was rapidly making her way through reading all 40 books for perhaps the tenth time in her short life. Alice had seen an earlier vision of Cassie reaching the last book in series only to find that the gift from the Cullens also included the newly released book in the series that would explore Mandie's college years, bringing the entire total to 41 books.

Cassie grinned widely as she saw her two Vampire Angels enter her room. "I'm glad you're both here. I have an announcement." She called to them excitedly, her grin never fading.

Jasper and Alice exchanged a quick look before moving as one to the chair beside Cassie's bed. Alice sat in it while Jasper remained standing next to her. He could feel the happiness radiating from Cassie and the hope that was coming from his wife. He shared her hope that this was the announcement they had been expecting since Christmas Day. Neither he nor Alice was breathing as the young girl in the bed opened her mouth to speak.

"I've made a decision." She admitted proudly. "I want you to change me. But it's not because I don't want to die or because I'm afraid to die, it's because I don't want to leave this life after meeting the two of you. Why accept death when there is something more to live for? I've come to love you both so much I don't want to leave either of you. So, I want you to change me."

A slow smile spread across Alice's lips as she finally allowed herself to start breathing again. She still couldn't see much more than a flicker of Cassie's future, but now at least she knew that girl would have one as a Cullen. No longer able to control her bursting happiness, she leaned in and hugged the child as tightly as she dared. "That's wonderful, Cassie. You're going to be a great addition to the Cullen family. And as hard as this existence is sometimes, it's only going to get better once you're part of it permanently. I can't wait until I can call you my…my adopted daughter." It was the first time that Alice had spoken the words out loud in front of Cassie, and they hadn't come easily. If she could have cried, she would been crying tears of joy as she told the girl how excited she was, but it was clear that something in the atmosphere of the room had changed as soon as she spoke the last words about Cassie being her adopted daughter. "I mean, if that's what you want…We could always say that you're another adopted child of Esme and Carlise's, but I was hoping that sometimes, not always, just sometimes, maybe, if it was ok with you, if you could be mine and Jasper's adopted daughter, as a cover story, when we're around humans." Alice tried to explain her words, stumbling over herself uncharacteristically as she spoke. "We don't have to do that, it was just a thought." She tried to cover in case she had offended Cassie with what she had said.

Jasper stiffened at the conflicting emotions that were pouring off of his wife and the young girl in those few seconds. There was shock, confusion, comprehension, doubt, but above all there was love coming from both of them. He took faith in this love, and chose not to intervene either with words or by manipulating the emotional atmosphere.

Finally, Cassie reached out a hand to stop Alice's rambling. "Stop." She whispered. "I know what you're getting at, and what you're trying to say. You don't have to explain anything else. I don't know how I feel about posing as your daughter. It would be weird. But then again, posing as Esme and Carlise's daughter would be weird too. I'm just so use to my own parents. But if it makes you happy, then we can try it. I don't know what I was thinking about what my cover story would be. I don't guess that I was. But I think that the more I think about it the more that I like the idea of being your daughter. It's more real than just being your sister. I guess in a lot of ways, you already are like a second mother to me. So, it's not that much of a stretch."

Alice couldn't have stopped beaming at the girl in the bed if she tried. She was speechless for once, unable to form the words to tell Cassie how grateful she was that the girl had understood, and had agreed to the occasional cover story of being her daughter. "I love you." She finally managed to half whisper, half choke out as she leaned in to share another meaningful hug with the girl.

After that day, things began to move much quicker within the Cullen home. Alice continued to spend nearly all of her free time at the hospital with the young girl. Jasper and Bella started to arrange to take their hunting trips into the forest together so that they could practice molding their respective abilities in such a way that they would be able to help Cassie through her first year as vampire. Rosalie, Bella, and Esme started to design a room next to Alice and Jasper's room for Cassandra, even Nessie helped to decorate the room. She was so excited about having someone her own age around. Bella had to keep reminding her that Cassandra would be different. That she wouldn't age like Nessie aged. Cassandra would be a child forever. Carlise and Edward spent every moment they could in the attic lab working out the various possibilities of Cassandra's change. They had agreed to be the ones to bite Cassandra and initiate the change, after Alice had begged them. She wasn't confident enough in her own ability to stop drinking from the girl before it was too late. The only two Cullens to ever change a human stood a much better chance of success than she did. And it was never even an option to put Jasper in that position, as much as he wished he could, it was beyond impossible.

Carlise obviously and understandably still had doubts about committing his family to the consequences of changing someone so young, even someone with the maturity level that Cassandra had, but he was willing to do it, if only to appease the relentless Alice. Emmett was the only one in the entire house who was opposed to changing Cassandra, and he continued to make his opinion on the matter loudly known, adding a continuous strain to his marriage and to the entire Cullen family.

"I still don't think that we're doing the right thing. Not by Cassandra, not by us, and certainly not by the Volturi." He griped to himself away from the rest of the family. The very fact that everyone in the house seemed to assume that the change was imminent, had him frustrated beyond his limits of control. Sure, Cassie had said that it was what she wanted, and sure, no one else seemed to be raising any serious objections to the issue, but it was still so wrong. He wished for the hundredth time that the once empty bedroom next to Alice and Jasper's room would return to being empty again. Emmett could see where everything was headed, even if no one else could, and he really didn't like it. He was the only one to see the truth, the only one on the side of what he knew to be wisdom and not foolishness.

"Emmett, we need to talk. Now." Carlise's voice was firm as he confronted his son where he was pacing back and forth around the backyard, complaining about changing Cassandra yet again.

"What?" The younger man asked in a tone that could have been considered disrespectful, but Carlise chose to ignore it for now.

"I would appreciate it if you would stop acting like the entire future is written out in stone. Alice can't even see what will happen once Cassandra is changed. None of us have any way of knowing what will happen if we change the girl. The Volturi may not even care."

"Oh, they'll care alright." Emmett snorted out the retort.

"That is enough! I will not tolerate this attitude any longer Emmett! I have tried to be patient. I have tried to understand where you're coming from with all of this, but you have gone far enough. This has to stop, and it has to stop now. If you want to continue to be part of this family, then you will respect whatever decision we, as a family, make in regards to Cassandra. You are free to disagree with it, of course, but that disagreement needs to be a little less caustic, and a little more in your private thoughts. Didn't you learn anything from the whole Bella/Rosalie mess? Do NOT alienate yourself against Cassandra the way Rosalie alienated Bella. And speaking of Rosalie, have you really taken a good look at your relationship with your wife lately? Because it is obvious to everyone else in this house, that your negativity toward Cassandra is causing more than a little distance between you and Rosalie. The two of you need to have a long and serious talk about this before a wedge so big is driven between you that you can't repair the rift it will create. Have I made myself clear? Remember, Emmett, your attitude is affecting all of us, and I for one am tired of tolerating it."

"I'm going hunting." Emmett mumbled barely loud enough for Carlise to hear before fleeing into the forest behind the house.

"He's mad. But only because you were right." A quiet voice behind Carlise observed. "Alice saw him hitting you." The voice continued by a way of explaining its presence.

"That's enough from you too, Jasper." Carlise's voice now was less harsh than the tone he had used with Emmett, but the meaning was the same. "Things like this should not be tearing this family apart; it should help us come together. Yet, I have Emmett on one hand insisting that it's a bad decision, and you and Alice on the other side pressuring me to give you my full support without considering all the facts as carefully as I should. It will not be easy to bring Cassie into this family. There is a lot more that still needs to be done, including coming up with a way to get her out of the hospital, a way to explain her sudden presence in our lives, and deciding just when we should act on Cassie's wishes. It can't be too soon, but we can't wait too long either. And then, I find out that you and Edward have come to some kind of agreement that prohibited him from talking to Cassie about being changed."

"Do you blame me? He would only be negative about it, and Cassie's decision needed to be based on the negative as well as the positive. Alice and I tried to give Cassie a well-rounded explanation of what it means to be one of us. If Edward talked to her, she would only see the negative, and neither of us wanted that. Now that her decision is made, Edward is free to talk to her about it as much as he wants, and I've told him as much. I apologize if my reasoning seems harsh, Carlise, but I only had Cassie's best interest in mind. Being a vampire isn't as negative as Edward sees it, and she needed to hear a balanced description of this life in order to make her decision. But you're right about the other thing. Alice and I have been unfair to you. I'm sorry. Take as much time as you need to ensure the family's safety. We're just…very excited." _I just hope you don't take too long. _He added silently.

Carlise nodded once in acceptance of the apology and as a transition to another topic. "I have an appointment this afternoon that I would like you to attend with me. Now I don't want you getting any more excited than you already are, but the appointment is with the family lawyer. It's a fact finding mission more than anything else. But eventually, we will need her help in creating a new life for Cassie. And don't let Alice get too carried away by it either."

Jasper smiled slightly, but promised that he wouldn't get too excited about the meeting just yet. "Finding out all the facts never hurt anyone. I'd be happy to come with you. Ms. Tacarra has very pleasant emotions."

"Did he run off again?" Rosalie demanded as she suddenly stepped into the backyard. Neither of the two men had heard her coming. "I am getting really tired of this. We haven't talked in almost a week, and now he's just running off whenever he pleases! Do either of you know where he went? It's time for me to be the bigger vamp this time. Despite everything he's said to me, I still love him, and I'm sick of this void between us. It's time I did something about it, instead of keeping on waiting for him."

"I'm glad to hear you say that Rosalie." Carlise commended his daughter. "But I'm sorry, I don't know where he went."

"Try going south, towards Beavercreek. The Kiwis of Portland website posted a bear watch for that area last night. Their Anzac day celebration is coming up in about 10 weeks, so for those who are trying to purchase tickets now, it's a friendly word of warning. But you know how Emmett gets every time he sees a bear watch or warning posted anywhere nearby." Jasper said remembering the tidbit he had come across while on the internet last night.

Rosalie did eventually manage to catch up to her stray mate, but didn't approach right away, still trying to figure out what she wanted to say to him. She was angry, but didn't want to alienate him by starting in on him right away. She chose to use a more subtle approach, so when she opened her mouth, it wasn't to yell or scream, or even to talk, it was to sing. "Something has changed within me, something is not the same, I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game. Too late for second-guessing. Too late to go back to sleep. It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap! It's time to try defying gravity. I think I'll try defying gravity. Kiss me goodbye, I am defying gravity. And you won't bring me down! I'm through accepting limits 'cause someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change, but till I try, I'll never know! Too long I've been afraid of losing love I guess I've lost. Well, if that's love it comes at much too high a cost! I'd sooner buy defying gravity. Kiss me goodbye, I'm defying gravity. I think I'll try defying gravity. And you won't bring me down!" She sang as she slowly moved closer and closer to Emmett.

Her husband looked in her direction as soon as the first notes were out of her mouth. His expression slowly changed as she sang. First there was surprise at seeing her, then delight at hearing her beautiful singing voice, then realization as the lyrics of the song she was singing registered with him. She was telling him in her own special way that she was going to stand her ground when it came to her opinion, and he could either accept that, or he could leave. He understood just by looking at her that she was through playing games, and it was time for the past 70 years of their life together to start moving in a new direction. If he were honest with himself, then he would realize that he was through playing games as well. The talk that he knew they were about to have had been a long time coming. Thank Alice, and another of her crazy ideas to bring the two of them to this point. Of course if the conflict over Cassandra didn't do it, then something else would. He sighed as the last note of Rosalie's song faded into the space between them. His first words to the love of his life surprised him. "Do you remember the first song you sang for me? I remember it took awhile after I was changed before you sang to me, but you chose a song that would be special. I still think you planned it that way. It couldn't just have been mere coincidence. After all, the _Top Hat _movie did premiere on the same day that you came into my life, and I joined your world."

"You're right, it wasn't coincidence. I did want it to be special. And I also remember that after I sang _Cheek to Cheek_, you wanted to go dancing every single night for a month." Rosalie laughed slightly at the memory. There was silence for a long while before she finally spoke again. "You know that we have to talk about this."

"Yeah, I know." Emmett motioned to the spot on the rock next to him, hoping that Rose would sit down. He smiled as she did, and continued speaking. "I've been acting like a jerk to you and to the rest of the family. And I'm sorry for that. There were better ways I could have handled things. Better ways to share my opinion without being rude. Just so you know, my opinion hasn't changed, and it's not going to, but I am very sorry for the way I've been acting."

"Apology accepted. And I'm sorry too. I've been letting my desire for children and grandchildren and a second chance at a human life come between us for a long time now. And it's been clouding my judgment for the past couple weeks. I should have tried being more sympathetic to your opinion instead of discounting it simply because of my own selfish desires."

Emmett quickly shook his head from side to side. "No, don't be sorry for that. That is part of who you are. You're my angel, Rosalie, and I would do anything for you. But I know that it's never going to be enough, and I can accept that. Besides after the way I've treated you this week, I don't deserve to be allowed to be enough for you. And you know that just because we have a different opinion on the Cassandra matter, doesn't mean that I don't love you, because I do. I love you with everything I am, Rosie."

"I love you too, Emmett. But you're wrong, you do deserve to be enough for me. You should be enough. And I'm going to work on that. The only thing you don't deserve is to be stuck with someone who can't accept you for you, and not as some consolation."

"And I promise to work on not letting my opinions get in the way of our relationship."

"Good. So, does this mean we're ok?" Rosalie asked with a hopeful smile.

"Yeah, we're ok." He said, returning that smile.

"Hey, do you remember the duet we sang to each other at our last wedding? The one in '97?"

"Yeah."

Rosalie parted her lips slightly and sang the first line of the chorus. "What if I told you?"

"What if I said?" Emmett echoed with the second line.

"That I loved you." They sang together.

"How would you feel?"

"What would you think?"

"What would we do? Do we dare to cross that line between your heart and mine? Or would I lose a friend or find a love that would never end? What if I said?" They sang the final lines together.

"We're going need a new song for our next wedding, you know?" Emmett teased, feeling a little more like his old self after talking to Rosalie.

"I'm sure that Alice already has a list of suggestions for us to choose from."

"And I bet she even knows which one we'll pick. We should just tell her to spare us from the list, and buy the music from the one she knows we'll choose."

Rosalie laughed at that idea. "So, Monkey Man, you ready to head back? We've got a long run ahead of us."

"Yeah. I'll race you." Emmett teased and took off running back toward Forks.

Emmett and Rosalie spent the next 24 hours locked in their room together, the majority of which was spent talking through all of the past issues that had led to the brick wall between them, and with Vampire strength and speed the wall was crumbled to dust. The rest of the time they spent re-discovering one another in a whole new way. When they finally emerged, Emmett was a changed man.

"I'm glad to know that both of you are still around. I had my doubts around three this morning when I heard a loud crash," Carlise told Emmett with a coy grin.

Emmett snorted and gave Carlise a coy grin of his own. "Yeah, about that. Rosie and I are going to need a new bed…"

"Esme's already taken care of it." Dr. Cullen assured his son. "Consider it our gift to you for allowing your brother and sister one night of peace."

"Yeah, about that, too. I was selfish. I'm going to apologize to them too, for real this time. But I figured that I owed you the second apology. Rose got the first one. I'm really sorry, Carlise. You're a father to me, and some of the things…no, probably all of the things I've said to you in the past week have been rude and disrespectful and impertinent and brazen and insolent and audacious and any other synonym you want to throw in there that I missed. I've been just plain mean, and you didn't deserve any of it. So, I'm sorry. And while I still have my reservations about the whole Cassandra thing, I would still like to help in any way that I can. Jasper's going to need to me to back him up on a lot of things. And I would still like to be part of the family if you still want me, so I want to help with this."

"I accept your apology, Emmett, and I would be honored to have your help when we change Cassandra. While you and Rosalie were locked away, I made some final changes to the case for changing Cassandra that we can present to the Volturi if we have to. In the mean time, it would be nice to add a younger member to our coven. I believe that part of me has started to grow attached to and even to love Cassandra over the past couple of weeks. Almost as much as Alice and Jasper."

Emmett chuckled to himself. "This whole family has gone bizereck." But this time, Emmett didn't say it to be mean. It was meant as a complement and that's how Carlise took it. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find Jasper and Alice."

"They went to the hospital. Again. I would give them time to finish there before you speak with them. You can help me plan Cassie's breakout in the mean time. We need to get her out of the hospital without anyone knowing."

"That's easy. Fake her death. Alice can't be that much taller than her. So, we cover her up with a bedsheet like a corpse, roll her down to the morgue, where she can just walk away. Meanwhile, the rest of us bust Cassandra out the backdoor."

"That's not a bad idea, Emmett. I never would have thought of it."

"See, I knew I could be good for something. Even if it is just sneaking humans out of places they aren't suppose to be able to sneak out of."

The next 48 hours were some of the busiest in the history of the Cullen family. Planning and perfecting Cassandra's change was keeping everyone occupied, including young Nessie. The lawyer had been called again to insure that all the proper paperwork was in place. For the purposes of her first introduction to the Cullen family, and for as long as they continued to live in Forks, Cassie's cover was a simple one. Alice and Jasper were to become the legal guardians of Alice's little sister, Cassandra Brandon. Cassandra's real parents would soon be told that she was dead. They were already expecting the terrible news, so the lie wouldn't be too hard to pass as reality. Dr. Cullen would discover a highly contagious germ in Cassandra's last set of blood work, but it would be too late to stop it. Cassandra's already weakened immune system wouldn't be able to fight the disease despite Carlise's best efforts. Dr. Milligan would never question Carlise's version of the girl's passing, and order that her body be cremated immediately, as was hospital policy in dealing with highly contagious germs of this magnitude. One change that had been made to Emmett's original plan was to substitute Bella as the corpse instead of Alice. Alice would need to be there when Carlise told Cassandra's parents the horrible news. It would add to the illusion, and Bella would pass easily as the child's cadaver as long as no one pulled back the bed sheet, which wasn't likely considering the nature of the contagion that Cassandra was suppose to have. It was the perfect plan, and the Cullens dared anyone to challenge them on the issue.


	8. Of The Thunder and The Wind

**Author's Note: I felt bad for leaving everyone hanging for so long, so I'm going ahead and posting the next chapter, and this one is really long. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, and events from the Twilight Saga are the property of the awesome Stephanie Meyers. No copyright infringement is intended.**

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Finally, the day they had all been preparing for had come. It was time to change Cassandra. Carlise had decided that it was better to change her sooner rather than later. The less progressed Cassandra's Leukemia was at the time of the change, the better it would be for everyone involved. He had insisted on running a few final tests just to make sure that her body was strong enough to handle the change and that the venom would indeed work to cure the cancer before she became a full Vampire. The rest of the family was gathered in his office waiting for the final ok before proceeding with the plan. The anticipation that Carlise would step through the door at any second and make the announcement that it was now or never was thick and hanging in the room like a cloud. Renesmee was the only one brave enough to voice the concerns that they were all feeling. "Uncle Jasper, does Cassandra know what's about to happen to her like Mommy did? Or is this going to be a surprise like it was for you and everyone else?"

Jasper stood behind the chair where Alice sat with one hand on her shoulder, gently massaging it, but released her shoulder at Nessie's question and bent down to gently lift his niece into his arms. "Alice and I have spent a long time talking to Cassandra about all of this. She understands exactly what's going to happen to her, and she knows what she's getting herself into if she lets us do this. She's prepared for everything, and she knows what will happen if something doesn't go right. But she's ok with that. We're all going to be with her during the change to help however we can. Everything's going to work out just fine."

Nessie reached up and briefly patted Jasper's cheek showing him a brief flash of Marcus, Caius, and Aro form the day they had shown up to investigate the reports they had received about her. "That's not going to happen." He insisted as he looked at Nessie. "I'm going to be with Cassie every second of every day. She's not going to mess up and force the Volturi to interfere. And if they do happen to show up, well, I'll make sure that I'm the only one to suffer the consequences of changing Cassie."

"Oh, no you don't, Jazz." Alice interrupted the sweet moment between uncle and niece. "We've talked about this. Cassandra is my responsibility. She's my choice. I'll be the one to pay for it."

Jasper sighed and sent a wave of calm throughout the small doctor's office. There was entirely too much tension in the room and all of these conversations were simply re-runs of things they had discussed before. He opened his mouth to say something more, but was instantly stabbed with the conviction that he had come to recognize so easily. Carlise was standing just outside the door. He put Renesmee on the floor and stood up straighter in anticipation of his father's entrance.

At the same instant, there was a second of nothingness from Alice as she saw Carlise enter the room moments before it was destined to happen. There was a glimmer of surprise from Edward as he heard the words Carlise intended to say floating around in his head seconds before they would be spoken aloud. Jasper felt his curtain of calm begin to rip as seven and a half Vampire heads turned to the door just as Carlise stepped into the suddenly cramped room. "Now?" It was the only question that needed to be asked, and no one in the room was really sure which one of them voiced it aloud. Was the moment now? Was now the time? Was now the instant that Cassandra's future as a Vampire would be determined? Was now the point of no return? Was it now?

The young doctor nodded seriously and spoke the only word that was needed, the only answer that was really expected. "Now." Even Nessie stopped breathing in the split second that followed the declaration before Carlise began giving orders. "Rose, Emmett, Jasper, I'll go to the nurse's station and make the sad announcement of Cassandra's passing and explain that there was nothing more I could do thanks to the pesky contagion she had picked up. You three get Cassandra to the house quickly and quietly. Esme, Edward, you know what you have to do. Alice, Bella, you're both with me." At Carlise's hasty instructions, Edward, who was carrying Renesmee, Jasper, and Esme kissed their mates and took off, followed quickly by Rosalie and Emmett, leaving only Carlise, Alice, and Bella in the office. Alice couldn't suppress a small shudder as all her mixed emotions returned to the surface in the absence of Jasper. "Give the others a few moments to get away, then Bella, go ahead and hide in the bed. Remember, no breathing, and no moving. Alice you must stay at the doorway to Cassie's room. After all, she was highly contagious, and I would never allow my daughter to be exposed to that even to say a final goodbye to a child who looked up to and admired her greatly. The two girls nodded once before following the others out the door. Carlise was the last to leave the office, but the first to arrive at his destination by the nurse's station.

The doctor was holding Cassandra's chart, and was scribbling a few last minute notes at the bottom of one of the pages. He barely glanced up from his writings, but he could see Jasper entering Cassandra's room out of the corner of his eye. He could hear the hushed tone that he used to talk to the young girl and was reminded very much of the voice that Edward used with Nessie. It was clear that Jasper had already taken on a father role of sorts in Cassandra's life. He was telling her that it was time for her to leave the hospital, and explaining that he was going to take her to the Cullen home, her new home. He had to tell her _no_ when she asked to see her parents one last time, and told her that she knew it was going to be like this. He could hear the sound of rustling clothing as Jasper gave Cassandra a huge hug and told her not to be scared, that he would look out for her. He gave her one last opportunity to back out of the deal, and Carlise couldn't help smiling when Cassandra assured him that her mind was made up, that this was what she wanted. The doctor in him tried not to show too much concern when the young girl asked her surrogate father to carry her because she didn't think that she had the energy to walk fast enough. Jasper must have been projecting his own concern for the child, and that was what Carlise was picking up on.

The doctor could see Rosalie patrolling the hallway in anticipation of Jasper's escape route. His own sixth sense told him that they would manage to get Cassandra out the back door where Emmett was waiting for them without incident. No one would notice the man and child, or if they did, it wouldn't concern them, and they wouldn't remember it as anything significant later on when they heard about someone dying in that wing of the hospital this afternoon.

"Candy, do me a favor and call a sanitation team for room 507." Carlise spoke to the head nurse calmly as he scribbled a final note in Cassandra's chart and closed the booklet, placing it on the corner of the desk.

Nurse Candy's eyes widened as she made the connection between the room number and its occupant, Cassandra. "Dr. Cullen? Did Cassandra…?"

"Yes. This morning. I went in to double check her blood work from yesterday, and found her. I'm placing time of death at just after midnight, and ordering the body cremated. The latest blood work indicated that she had contracted a high end contagion due to her weakened immune system. No matter how hard we try, we can't fight every infection every time, and this is sadly one of those times when the infection won. I'm just glad that she doesn't have to suffer anymore. This was really the best way for her to go. We all know that her cancer was winning the long term battle anyway. But at least it's over now." Carlise said with an appropriate level of empathy and sadness, while still maintaining his professionalism. "Let me know when you see Dr. Milligan. I need him to sign off on the cremation since he's Cassandra's primary doctor. And do try to have the sanitation team in there today. We can't risk letting the contagion spread to the rest of the hospital."

"Of course, Dr. Cullen." Candy said quietly. Carlise could see that the news of the child's death had saddened the nurse, but she had been around patients who had died before, she would be ok.

"All set, Alice?" Carlise asked in a whisper as he breezed past the door to Cassandra's old room. At Alice's nod, Carlise turned the corner to the waiting room where he knew Cassandra's parents would be waiting. They were there at this time every day, waiting for a doctor or a nurse to give them permission to go back and see their daughter.

Cassandra's mom stood as she saw the younger of the two doctors who had been caring for her daughter. This one had been called in as a consultant only, but she seemed to like him more than the other, older doctor. But today there was something in his face that wasn't usually there. Something that she didn't like. "Is everything ok? We saw a bunch of people rush past, and then there was a bunch of noise down the hall. Is it Cassandra? Is she ok?"

Carlise bowed his head. It was an action that he had used in the past to show regret in front of humans when he had to deliver such news. "I'm sorry." Carlise was interrupted by a large sob from the mother in front of him. Cassandra's dad had been waiting in the background, but now he was at their side and reaching to comfort his wife.

"When?" The girl's father whispered hoarsely.

"Sometime just after midnight. Her immune system was so weakened from the cancer that she managed to pick up a small contagion. I doubt that she even realized she had the infection. She didn't suffer in the moment. It would have been as if she was just going to sleep, nothing more. There is one more item, however. Her body will have to be cremated. It's hospital policy to prevent the spread of the contagion. If we go now, you might be able to see her one last time before they take her body to the morgue."

"Yes, I'd like that." Cassandra's mom managed to say between tears.

"Alright, follow me." Carlise led the way back to the hospital room, while mentally rehearsing the ideal way that the next few minutes would play out. Hopefully between him and Alice and the manipulation they had over the situation, reality would be close to that ideal. He made the decision to follow Alice's lead in the situation regardless of what happened. She would be able to see what was coming better than he ever could, giving her the distinct advantage of knowing what actions would be the most convincing.

"Dad?" Alice looked up at her adopted father as she heard him approach. Carlise was surprised at the level of intensity in Alice's acting. If he didn't already know what was happening, he would have thought that there was something seriously wrong with his daughter. Her hands tightly gripped the door frame, though not so tight that it would break. Her expression was a mixture of fear and sadness. Her voice cracked slightly when she spoke, and there were what appeared to be tears in her eyes. Although, from the smell Carlise knew that the effect was only caused by a small amount of glycerin in the corner of her eyes. "Daddy." Alice said before running toward Carlise and wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his chest. "She's gone, Dad. I can't believe it. I was just here talking to her yesterday, and now the nurse won't even let me in to see her one last time and say goodbye. And she's covered up with that awful sheet…" Alice managed to say between fake sobs.

Carlise couldn't suppress a feeling of pride in his daughter's acting ability. Thankfully, none of those feelings would be visible on his face. True to his fatherly instincts, he reached out to Alice, allowing her to hug him tighter. He lightly stroked the back of her hair, pretending to smooth out the loose strands of her short cut. "I know, honey, I know." He spoke the words of comfort quietly to Alice, hoping that his side of the performance was as convincing as Alice's had been. He briefly wondered if Jasper had something to do with her believability. But he knew that was impossible, since by now Jasper would be home with Cassandra. "Sweetie, Cassandra's immune system was very weak from her radiation treatments and her Leukemia. She managed to catch a highly contagious bacterial infection. I know it's hard not to be able to see her just one last time, but we can't risk anyone else getting sick, especially in the hospital where so many others also have a weaker than normal immune system."

Alice made a sound like a whimper, but nodded her head to give the impression that she understood her adopted father's words.

Before anyone else could react, two things happened at once. Esme and Edward came running toward the small gathering at a very human speed, and two guys in orange hazmat suits approached from the opposite direction. Edward took over for Carlise in comforting Alice at the same instant that Esme reached out to hold Carlise's hand. "Thank you for coming, Dear. I think that it would be best if you took Alice home. She shouldn't be driving as upset as she is."

"I agree. Are you going to be ok?" Esme's tone held concern and empathy for Alice, as well as for Carlise.

"Yes. I'll be fine. Just get Alice home. I won't be late tonight." Carlise told his wife as he leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

"Come on, Honey, I'll make you some chicken soup at home." Esme placed one hand on Alice's shoulder to help coax her away from Edward, and slowly the trio began to trudge down the hospital hallway.

"Glycerin, Alice? Very effective." Edward teased under his breath so that only his sister would hear him as he walked her toward the elevator at the end of the hall.

"Hey, I had to think of something to make it realistic." Alice teased back in the same tone of voice Edward had used.

Carlise appeared to force his eyes away from his wife and two children and focus on the two men in hazmat suits. "In here gentlemen. The body should be isolated in the morgue until arrangements can be made to cremate it." He instructed before turning his attention to the distraught couple who had just been told they had lost their only child. "I know how difficult this is. You don't have to watch when they bring her out." The doctor gently told the pair.

"No, no, I'd like to see her, just once more." Cassandra's mother was the one who had spoken.

"Very well, then." Carlise assented and stood just behind Cassandra's parents as the hazmat team rolled out the hospital bed on which Cassandra's lifeless body appeared to be covered by a white sheet. Carlise knew that the lump under the sheet was really Bella, unmoving, and not breathing, but unfortunately for Cassandra's parents, the effect was the same. Bella was roughly Cassandra's size and the illusion was very convincing.

The doctor completed the necessary paperwork with the parents and then took his leave of them, assumingly to oversee the cremation of the child. Carlise entered the morgue, and smiled to find that the hazmat team had obeyed his exact instructions, and isolated the bed with Bella on it. "It's ok, Bella, you can stop pretending now. Everything worked flawlessly."

Bella couldn't stop the laugh as she sat up on the bed. "Well, that was certainly an experience. Do you need me to do anything else?"

"No. Dr. Milligan signed off on the cremation, and I'm overseeing it, so we don't have any need for a cadaver right now. You did a wonderful job, but now it's time for you to go home. Everyone else should be there already, and I know that Edward's going to want to make sure you're ok, that no one accidently burned you up."

"He's also probably wondering why I kept him from reading Cassie's parents' minds. I just couldn't stand the thought of him hearing what they were thinking knowing that their daughter was dead. It would hit a little too close to home for him thinking about Nessie. I'll see you tonight, Carlise." Bella said before giving her adopted father a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and taking off at a run too fast for human eyes to really detect.

"Tell me how this works again." Cassandra asked Alice as the two of them sat talking in the Cullen's living room. Carlise and Edward were preparing a room upstairs for the change, and it wouldn't be long until they called Alice to bring Cassandra up to them. As the only two members of the Cullen family to ever change anyone, they would be the only two allowed in the room during the critical first couple of hours. After that, Alice would sit with her until it was over. She knew that Bella would come by occasionally, but it would remind her too much of her own transformation not that long ago. Jasper and Rose would each stop by, but wouldn't be able to stay for long for completely different reasons. Jasper would be affected too much by Cassandra's emotions, and Rose was beginning to doubt if this was the right thing to do. She was starting to see Emmett's point of view, but only Edward and Alice knew that would be her reason. The others would assume that it was too hard for her to see a child suffering.

Alice tried to explain the transformation process as best as she could to Cassandra without scaring her too much. "Our venom basically has the ability to interact with human genes in such a way that it creates two extra chromosomes. It's not a pleasant process, and by the end of it you won't technically be alive anymore. You'll still exist, but you won't be alive in the same way you are now. You do understand the difference, don't you?" At Cassandra's nod, Alice continued. "When you wake up, everything will be very different. Bella talked about it like she was waking up for the first time. Everything will look and feel different, more intense. The biggest change is that you'll feel thirsty all the time. We've talked about this part before." Cassandra nodded her understanding once more. "There's still time to change your mind you know."

"I'm not going to back out now. I love you, Alice. And since I have a choice between death and being with you, I choose to be with you, my Vampire Angel. My big sister, my second mother, my friend. Death would be lonely without you. And besides, everyone already thinks that I'm dead."

Alice had stopped correcting Cassandra on the Vampire Angel nomenclature long ago, but it still bothered her on some level. Cassandra would discover the awful truth for herself very soon. Unfortunately, Alice couldn't see beyond Cassandra waking up with bright red eyes and the painful look of hunger the Cullens knew all too well.

"We're ready, Alice. Please bring Cassandra upstairs now." Carlise's voice drifted downstairs to where the pair waited. Only Alice heard the words, however, since they were so softly spoken.

"It's time. Are you sure you're ready for this?" Alice checked with the younger girl one final time.

"Yes, I'm sure. Just don't leave me, my Vampire Angel." Cassandra almost begged.

"I won't." Alice promised. "At least not for long. You'll have to do part of it without me, but Carlise and Edward will be there. The rest of us will have to stay away for a bit. It's hard to change someone, I've told you that, but it's even harder to watch another Vampire feeding without wanting to join in. You'll just have to trust me on that one." Alice spoke as she started to carry Cassandra up the stairs and to the room where the rest of her family waited. At the top of the stairs, however, Cassandra insisted on Alice putting her down and letting her walk the rest of the way to the room. Alice reluctantly complied, understanding Cassie's juvenile need to stand on her own two feet here at the end of her time as a human.

All the Cullens were there. Rose and Emmett stood to one side of the door, not really looking at anyone or anything in particular, but present nonetheless. Rosalie kneeled down so that she was eye level with Cassandra. "This isn't going to be easy, but you won't be alone. We'll all be here and we all love you no matter what happens. We'll do everything we can to make this less hard." The expression on Cassandra's face could only be described as perplexed, but Alice couldn't help feeling that her sister had done for the girl what she herself could never have done, and with so few words.

Emmett copied his wife's actions to say a few final words of encouragement to Cassandra. He wouldn't be at home at all during the next three days. Bella had apparently changed her mind on trying to stick around the house and check in on Cassandra occasionally, and was going to ask him on an extended hunting trip. Alice was going to make sure that Bella didn't change her mind on this one. "Look, Cass, I may not be in total support of this, but I'm still going to be here for you when you wake up. You'll be like my niece, and I really want you to succeed." Emmett's words actually brought a small smile to Cassandra's face.

Inside the room, Alice helped Cassandra climb onto the large bed, squeezed her hand once, and gave the girl an encouraging smile. "It'll be ok. I'll be just outside the door for the next couple hours, but after that, I'll be right here the entire time until you wake up." She promised.

"I still wish you could stay." Cassandra said sadly.

"I know, I do too. And believe me, I tried everything to get myself prepared to do just that, but I'm just not strong enough. I explained that to you. But don't worry. Carlise and Edward will take good care of you. They won't let anything bad happen to you. Just remember, the change will be worth it and the darkness comes before the dawn and there's always a silver lining and all that."

Cassandra giggled good naturedly at Alice's mixed euphemisms.

_You better not let anything bad happen to her. I mean…I know you won't, but just be careful, ok? I don't want this to be any harder on her than it has to be. _Alice thought the words at Edward, giving her brother a meaningful look. She caught the slight movement of his eyes that let her know he understood and would do everything that he could for the girl.

"Call me when it's safe," Alice said aloud to Carlise before exiting the room.

"Of course." Carlise agreed before focusing his attention on Edward. "You ready?" At his son's confident nod, Carlise turned to Cassandra. "How about you? Any last questions that Alice couldn't answer?"

"No, I'm ready. More than ready actually. I'll finally have the big sister I've always wanted. And anything's got to be better than this." Cassandra admitted as a mix of emotions crossed her face.

"Jazz?" Edward and Carlise whispered at the same time, knowing that the other vampire was still standing out in the hall. They could hear Alice asking him to lend a hand by controlling the emotional atmosphere within the room as well. They had asked for it, but weren't prepared for what Jasper actually sent their way. Edward was expecting a simple calm, and Carlise was expecting all of Jasper's energy to be focused on Cassandra. Instead, however, the two Vampires and the human child in the room felt a wave of courage and safety that they knew could have only been projected by a very focused Jasper. Edward smiled when he realized what his brother was doing. They all needed that courage more than a simple calm. It was the perfect choice to get them through the next few hours. He would have to thank Jasper for his unexpected help later.

_You'll be fine, Edward. Alice said so._ Jasper's thoughts hit him full force, just as Carlise raised one of Cassandra's wrists to his mouth and instructed her to close her eyes.

"Trust us, it'll be easier if you can't see what we're doing." He told her. Edward took that as his cue and reached out to gently hold Cassandra's other wrist. In unison, as if the whole dance had been preplanned and practiced a hundred times before, Carlise and Edward slowly lowered their heads and as one, each bit slowly into the small wrist they held. The taste of fresh, warm blood assailed each of their senses, but neither man lost control. Again, like a well rehearsed dance, two vampire tongues ran smoothly over two small bite marks, and two pools of venom helped seal those bite marks and hold the venom inside the small body for it to do its work. Using the same technique he had with Bella, Edward reached for a nearby syringe full of venom and plunged it directly into Cassandra's now erratically beating heart. Carlise worked to help hold Cassandra still while biting her in several other vital places. Finally the dance was over and the two vampires released the girl.

The only thing Cassandra knew was pain. Immense and terrible, burning pain. She couldn't tell where the pain came from, or what its purpose was, all she knew was that it was the worst she had ever felt and it was constant, no relief was possible. She moaned as she violently tore at her body, writhing and trying to find a more comfortable position, but none could be found. Soon her moans became louder, and eventually morphed into screams, useless screams that again offered no relief from the fire burning within her.

Edward and Carlise started at each other over the fragile girl's body. The initial shock of the venom on the human system was terrible, and it took impossible amounts of self control not to run to her and finish the job. The idea of it was very appetizing to each of them, but for different reasons. For Edward, it was still an instinct, and for Carlise, it was pity. He couldn't stand to see anyone in pain for long. Neither said a word to the other, but a century of living together allowed them to read everything they needed to know on the other's face. Each was offering the other a chance to leave the room, being willing to suffer alone, but in the end both men stood their ground, determined to maintain control.

Out in the hall, Alice clung tightly to Jasper as a particularly loud scream from Cassandra reverberated throughout the house. "I didn't think that it would be this hard to listen to." She confessed to her husband. Jasper gave her a questioning look, and she nodded her assent as an instant wave of calm washed over her. "Thanks." She whispered quietly to him, loosening her hold only slightly. "How much longer do you think it'll be before it's safe for me to go in?"

"Not long. Edward's going to want to talk to Bella when he comes out, so he won't want to wait much longer."

"How'd you know that? I mean, I saw it, so I know that's what's going to happen. But how did you know? Don't tell me I'm rubbing off on you."

"No, nothing like that. It's just…it's gotten really easy for me to know what emotional state Edward's in when he's thinking about Bella. And this…well, it's got to be causing him to have some kind of flashback, if that's even possible for us."

"I'm surprised at how astute you've become lately, Jasper." Alice said at the same time that Rosalie spoke from her corner of the hallway.

"It is. Flashbacks. We can have them. I asked Carlise about it once. You know he thinks about changing Edward, Esme, me, and Emmett every time he thinks about changing someone new. It's got to be just as hard on him, if not harder, than it is on Edward. I mean Carlise has a lot more memories of changes to flash back to than Edward does." The beautiful blonde had a good point. Alice almost felt guilty for not thinking about how hard this was for Carlise, she had been so concerned for Edward.

Alice tried looking ahead now to see if there was any truth to Rosalie's words about the long term effects this was having on Carlise. Unfortunately, she couldn't see that exact part of his future. Everything was hazy at the moment anyway thanks to Jasper's manipulation.

"Rosalie, what were you doing asking Carlise about flashbacks?" Jasper asked suddenly. He obviously had sensed something in her emotions that Alice hadn't picked up on. But now that he had asked the question, she was curious too. It wasn't like Rose to be so concerned with such an off-the-wall concept.

"I was curious. Besides, it's really none of your business Jasper Whitlock." Rose shot back hastily, and Alice knew that she was lying. There was more to this story than Rose was letting on, and the pixie-like vampire highly suspected that it had something to do with the one human event that Rosalie always refused to talk about.

For the most part, Alice hadn't been paying much attention to where the rest of her family was, and it wasn't until she saw Bella and Emmett dash back into the upstairs hallway that she even realized the two had left to go downstairs. "I'm going hunting with Bella. I would ask you to come too, but I already know what you're going to say. I'll be back in three days." She heard Emmett telling Rose and felt Jasper flinch next to her at Rosalie's emotional reaction to the callous announcement.

"Stop it, Jasper!" Rose snapped after what Alice assumed was his attempt at diffusing any argument that would happen between Rose and Emmett. "I would really like the chance to be mad at my husband right now." Rose said with fake sweetness.

"Nope. I don't think I will. If you two want to fight, you're going to have to do it off my radar screen. Right now, I have all I can handle coming from that room." He said and tilted his head sideways so that it angled toward Cassandra's room.

"I'm sorry, bro. I didn't mean to start anything between you and Rosie." Emmett said by way of a sincere apology.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's not your emotions I'm having difficulty with right now."

"Let's go downstairs, Rose. This won't take long, Bella." Emmett tossed over his shoulder as he dragged his wife away from the others.

Bella was standing perfectly still against the opposite wall from where Alice and Jasper stood next to the door leading to Cassandra's room. "Everything will be fine between the two of them. It's just as well that Rosalie's causing this delay anyway. Edward's going to need you for a minute before you can leave to go hunting." Alice informed her. She felt a sharp stab in her side and turned to Jasper with a shriek. "Hey! What was that for?"

"I'm the one who brought up the Edward thing. Stop taking credit for things you didn't actually see until I mentioned them." He reprimanded her.

"Fine. Jasper thinks Edward will want to talk to you before you go hunting with Emmett."

Bella watched the exchange with little interest. "Ok." She said quickly to dispel any further competition between the two.

The trio standing in the hall didn't have to wait much longer until the door to Cassandra's room flew open. Carlise and Edward exited the room quickly and less than a second later Alice was inside the room and the door was closed once more. Edward reached out immediately for Bella and led her toward their room. At the same instant Carlise gave Jasper a questioning look. "I heard Rosalie yelling at you. Anything I should know?"

Jasper licked his lips in a very human gesture and thought about his answer for an instant before responding. "Which time? And no. Not really. Emmet's going with Bella to hunt until Cassandra's change is complete and Rose isn't happy about it. And she's hiding something from me and Alice, but that's nothing new."

"I see. Jasper, do me a favor. Ms. Tacarra will be here later today with the final paperwork for you and Alice to sign. She's still not too energetic about the fine line she's having to walk with this one…"

"No problem." Jasper was quick to respond, not needing Carlise to say any more. "Do you think it's safe for me to join Alice?"

"Just don't stay too long." Carlise said with a cautious nod.

"I won't." Jasper promised before following his wife into Cassandra's room. He could hear two other serious conversations taking place in the Cullen home, but he was only concerned with the noises in that one room at this moment.

"Rose, we've talked about this. Lots of times in fact. We've talked about your need to find an outlet for that mothering instinct. And we've talked about my need to remove myself from the whole Cassandra thing. I helped break her out of the hospital. I've agreed to not interfere with her unless there's a need, such as her going crazy and eating a few dozen humans in one day. But I need to get out of the house while she's changing. There's just too much for me to think about if I stay here. At least if I go with Bella to Canada for the next few days and indulge in some Buffalo, I won't be here thinking about everything that could go wrong with Cassandra. Can you understand that, at all?" Emmett was telling Rose as the two of them sat on the piano bench in the living room.

"Bella, I just had this weird de ja vu, flashback, thingy happen when I was in there with Cassandra. And I had to see you. I hope you don't mind. I know you wanted to go hunting with Emmett and I was glad that you hadn't left yet when I came out." Edward was saying in the room next to Cassandra's. Jasper could feel Carlise was passing by in the hallway at the same time, wondering why he wasn't telling Esme the exact same thing. He really needed to go find his mate.

Jasper closed his eyes for a full second to bring his mind back into focus with what was going on right in front of him. Emmett and Edward could handle their own problems for now. Jasper needed to focus on his love and his soon to be adopted daughter. He stood silently behind Alice as he watched Cassandra and felt her pain almost as strongly as if it were his own. Taking a deep unnecessary breath, Jasper forced himself to focus on the pain and pull it out of Cassandra, replacing it with peace and courage. "Gabriella Tacarra will be here in five minutes, Jazz. And she's in a hurry." Alice finally said, breaking the silence in the still room. "I think you should meet her at the door. I'll be fine here." Alice smiled at him.

"Ok." Jasper consented reluctantly, only then realizing that he had never resumed any semblance of normal breathing. "So, are you going to ruin the surprise for me and tell me if I'm going to be able to convince her that she's doing the right thing."

Alice thought for a minute before answering. "Yes, she'll be certain that she's doing the right thing, or at least that she's not doing anything wrong. Just don't answer any of her questions directly."

"Wasn't planning on it." Jasper stated, but closed his mouth again at Alice's raised eyebrows. "Maybe she was going to take me by surprise…"

"But she won't anymore, now that I've told you," Alice finished the sentence for her mate.

"Nope, not now." Jasper agreed, kissed Alice on the cheek and exited the room, running into Edward on his way out. _Keep her company for me, will you? _Jasper thought to his brother. At Edward's nod, he whisked downstairs just in time to hear Gabriella Tacarra's footfalls coming up the walk. He reached the front door before the lawyer could, and held it open for her as she approached.

"I'm impressed. I didn't even have time to ring the bell. These papers must be pretty important if you were waiting for me by the front door." Gabriella said with grin for Jasper. He was her least favorite Cullen kid, but things had gotten better between them recently, ever since Bella Swan had married into the family. Funny how much that one event had changed the entire family for the better. Gabriella was just glad that the wedding was 100% legal and hadn't required her services for more than just updating a couple of wills. Strange thing was she doubted if anyone in the Cullen family even needed a will, but they all had one just the same. Jasper now stood in front of her with an odd look on his face. He was probably sizing her up in the same way that she was him.

He shrugged good naturedly, and mumbled a quick, "It was just luck that I saw you coming up the walk as I was passing by the window."

"I see."

Jasper cleared his throat in what he hoped passed for a human enough gesture. "So, the papers…"

"Right here." Gabriella said, handing him a thick brown envelope. "I believe that you'll find everything in order. Cassandra's legalized adoption papers, as well as the papers appointing you and Alice as her legal guardians and Bella and Edward as her secondary guardians should you and Alice be unable to perform your duties. I also included all of the paperwork necessary for enrolling her in school without previous transcripts. The copies that still require signatures from you and Alice are on the top, and your copies are after that. If you can drop the signed copies by the office sometime in the next few days, it would be wonderful." The lawyer paused to take a breath. "So, do I get to meet Cassandra?"

"We really do appreciate all of the work you've put into this Ms. Tacarra. You always do such excellent work. Carlise asked me to tell you that you'll find a handsome check awaiting you back at your office, and Alice wanted me to pass on her gratefulness as well. We wouldn't have been able to do this without you. Thank you, so very much. Unfortunately, Cassandra isn't really up to visitors just yet. She's still very upset about everything, as I'm sure you can understand. I promise that Alice and I will bring her by when she's up to it."

As Jasper spoke, the lawyer could feel herself relaxing, gaining confidence in his words, and consequently in her actions. Reassured that she was indeed doing the right thing, Gabriella turned to leave the Cullen home. "Thank you, Jasper, but that won't be necessary. Carlise has my number if you need anything else."

"Thank you. After things calm down a little, Alice and I will probably want to update our wills again."

"Already taken care of. It's in the envelope." Gabriella said with a wink.

"Great. Thank you again, and have a safe drive back into town."

Gabriella was less than two seconds from the door, when a slight noise on the stairs caused both her and Jasper to turn. A young girl was dancing down the stairs with a huge smile on her face. Dancing over to Jasper, she grabbed his large hand and held it in both of her tiny ones. "Uncle Jasper." The girl whispered as Jasper bent down lower to meet the girl's eyes. Gabriella expected the girl to lean in to whisper something to Jasper, but instead, she simply placed a small delicate hand on Jasper's cheek and smiled at him.

"This is Ms. Tacarra. She's helping Alice and me with Cassandra's adoption." Jasper said after a moment. Then in a voice that only the girl would be able to hear, he added, "She doesn't know about us, Nessie, so try to use words, ok."

Renesmee nodded her understanding to her Uncle Jasper and grinned at Gabriella. "It's good to meet you Ms. Tacarra."

"And who are you?" Gabriella responded in a gentle voice impressed with the girl's obvious intelligence that went beyond her years.

"I'm Renesmee." The girl said, still smiling as if her name alone would clear everything up for the lawyer.

"She's Edward's Cousin's Nephew's Father's Cousin's Daughter. The 'uncle' is just a term of endearment for her, you understand." Jasper interjected hurriedly, afraid that if he didn't provide some explanation, Nessie would say too much, or Gabriella would ask too much.

The lawyer blinked a few times as she tried to trace the family line that Jasper had just given her. Frustrated, she just shook her head, "Right. Don't ask." She said more to herself than to Jasper. It was true for a lot of her clients, not just the Cullens. If they didn't tell her, then she didn't need to know.

Upstairs, Alice gasped silently as Jasper quickly faded from her vision. She hated when that happened. It usually meant one of two things, Renesmee or a wolf. And in this case, Alice could guess which one of the two had interfered. _Edward, where's Renesmee? Jasper just disappeared and he's supposed to be talking to Ms. Tacarra downstairs. I think your daughter's going to cause a lot more questions to come from our already tediously suspicious lawyer. _Alice thought to her brother. She knew the second that Edward heard her because she could see his decision to go look for Renesmee, and then he too disappeared from her vision.

"Renesmee." Edward called after his daughter as soon as he heard Alice's thoughts. If Gabriella asked too many questions about Nessie, it could ruin the relationship Carlise had with her. She was already starting to doubt if she should continue acting as the family's lawyer or not. In her mind, Carlise was one grey area request away from her refusing to work for him any longer. This latest thing with Cassandra had raised enough red flags without Nessie choosing to make an appearance too. It didn't take him long to tap into Renesmee's unique thoughts and locate her. "Renesmee." He called again as he started down the stairs. "Come up here, please."

Nessie grinned mischievously at Jasper when she heard her father calling for her. Jasper cleared his throat in a human gesture, knowing that by now Gabriella could hear Edward calling as well. "You'd better go Renesmee. You don't want Edward to get mad, do you?" Jasper told her, knowing that the half-vampire child was going through what could only be described as a rebellious phase. Fortunately, he knew that like the rest of her development, Renesmee's rebellion wouldn't last long.

"I think I'll go now. Let me know if you need anything else." Gabriella said, opening the door to see herself out, knowing that she shouldn't be there to watch the girl get in trouble for not coming when she had been called.

"Thank you, Ms. Tacarra. Goodbye." Jasper called after her, shutting the door behind the lawyer. _How much damage did she do?_ Jasper thought to Edward, who was now standing beside him. He could tell that Edward was quasi-listening to Ms. Tacarra's thoughts as she drove away.

Finally Edward sighed and met Jasper's eyes. "I think we're still safe. For now. Gabriella never did figure out the whole cousin's nephew's father's cousin's daughter thing. That was fast thinking by the way. Good call. Unfortunately, she did notice how much Renesmee looks like Bella. It's a good thing that she's still too worried about the legality of Cassandra's guardianship to think too much about Renesmee. We got lucky." Relaxing, Edward allowed his human habits to take over and he wandered over to the large couch to sit down. "Nessie." Edward said, glaring at his daughter. "Come here, please." He instructed and patted the spot next to him on the couch.

Jasper took that opportunity to slip quietly out of the room. This was a job for a parent, and while Edward had never been good when it came to disciplining Nessie, the emotions pouring out of him at the moment assured Jasper that his brother could handle the situation. Renesmee just needed a gentle reminder that if there was company in the house, and she didn't know who they were, then she needed to stay upstairs, especially if that company was fully human. At least until she stopped aging so quickly. Her presence would cause too many questions to which no one had humanly acceptable answers.

"Nessie, Renesmee, you understand why you can't just walk around down here when there's someone here that you don't know, right?" When Renesmee didn't respond, Edward continued, quickly losing his patience with his daughter. "Why did you come down here anyway? I know you could smell Ms. Tacarra. You knew there was a human here, and you know the rules about human visitors. So, why did you come down here?" Renesmee still didn't speak, but did reach her hand out to touch Edward's cheek. It broke his stone heart to do it, but Edward pulled away from Nessie and glared at her. "No, Renesmee. I want you to _talk_ to me. You are going to be a in a lot of trouble if I don't get some answers soon, and when we are having this kind of serious conversation, you need to use words. And, _yes_, there is a difference."

Renesmee frowned and even hissed at her dad, a habit she had picked up from watching Emmett and Jasper wrestle, but eventually she did speak. "I was curious." Her words were forced and flippant.

"Renesmee, just because you look like an eight year old, doesn't give you permission to act like one, but at the same time, just because you have the intelligence level of an adult, doesn't mean you can start acting like one of them either. Understand? You are too mature to act like a child, but you still have a lot of growing to do and need to respect the rules of this house and those that your mother and I have set in place for your protection and the protection of this entire family. Have I made myself clear?" Edward paused now, hoping to get some kind of response from his daughter, but Renesmee remained silent. He had started to feel more and more like a human father lately, and moments like this helped to solidify that feeling. He loved his daughter more than anything, except perhaps her mother. He really wanted to be able to treat her like any other member of the Cullen family, but the part of her that was human left him with few options. "Renesmee, I'm only going to say this once, so pay attention. There are rules in this house for a reason, and you're expected to abide by those rules. That means if there's a human in the house, you stay clear unless Bella or I tell you otherwise. Not Alice, not Jasper, not Carlise, not anyone except me or your mother. As soon as you stop changing so rapidly, that rule will change, but in the mean time, you will follow it. And no, we're not ashamed of you, like you're thinking. We love you, we care about you, but we also care about this family, and that means we have to set certain rules, and when necessary, enforce those rules. If we make a mistake that results in people starting to ask questions, too many questions, uncomfortable questions, we will be forced to leave. We're pushing it, staying in Forks for as long as we have as it is. You're smart enough to understand this Nessie. It's time for you to stop thinking only about yourself, and concentrate on protecting the family. I know we've given you a lot of latitude with some things. But this is NOT one of those things. Thankfully, everything worked out ok this time, but next time, we may not be so lucky. Your curiosity is just simply not a good enough reason to risk everything we have here. Now, do you have anything else to say for yourself?" Renesmee again reached for Edward's cheek, and again he pulled away, and made a point of forcing himself out of her head so he wouldn't be able to hear her thoughts either.

"The rules are important. I get that, ok? But I'm sick of the rules. I'm the only person who really seems to suffer because of them. I have to sacrifice my freedom for everyone else. And it's not fair! Mom chose this life, Carlise chose this life for you, but NO ONE chose it for me. I was an accident, a freak of un-nature! And for that I have to suffer these BOGUS rules! I just wanted to know what was going on and Uncle Jasper didn't seem to mind…"

Renesmee's attitude was bordering on extreme disrespect and Edward chose that moment to stop her before she said something that she would regret later. "Oh, yes, he did mind! You just didn't know it because his face is so hard to read, and he had to maintain control over his emotional state for Ms. Tacarra's sake. You go ask him now, and find out how much he minded having to come up with that spur of the moment cover to answer her questions."

"I'm sorry, ok." Renesmee said in a mumble, and Edward could feel her eyes roll.

"Are you really sorry, or are you just saying that to make me shut up?"

Renesmee rolled her eyes again in response, and Edward heard her unbidden thoughts. _Oh, just stop it already. Enough with the lecture, ok. _Unfortunately, what she said aloud was even worse. "I just want to be like the rest of you. I hate this! I'm not sorry for what I did, and I would do it again. I told you, I get how important the rules are, but there's too many of them, it's ridiculous. And all of them seem to hurt me more than the rest of you. I'm not going to stay locked away when as stupid as humans are, they'd never figure anything out about me anyway!"

"Humans aren't stupid, Renesmee, and you seem to forget that you, yourself, are half-human. Besides humans won't always be our biggest worry. There's the Volturi to consider."

"Oh, come on. We dealt with the Volturi once before and we can do it again. It's not like I'm gonna go out and brag about the whole family being Vampires, or anything crazy like that. I just want to be free to move about the house, and Forks, and the entire Olympic Peninsula without a babysitter or wondering what the dumb humans will think."

"Humans aren't dumb either. And we've discussed this…"

"Save it, Dad!"

"That's it! Go to your room, Renesmee! I'll be up later to finish this conversation, and don't think you're going to get of this now without being punished! Now GO!"

"I'm telling Jacob on you!"

"Go ahead! Somehow I think that he'd agree with me on this one! And, by the way, Jacob is human, too!"

After the final heated words were exchanged, Renesmee stormed up the stairs and Edward could hear her growl as she slammed the door to her room.

"Want some advice, bro?" Jasper asked as he suddenly reappeared in the room, as if he had never left.

"Not really, but considering that I'm pretty sure you just heard that whole thing and Renesmee and my anger vibes are probably getting to you, I have an idea you're going to tell me anyway." Edward said with a needless sigh.

"There's a place right here on the underside of the arm, not quite to the armpit." Jasper demonstrated the area he was talking about on himself. "It hurts like nobody's business, but it regenerates quickly. It'll be just enough to make her think twice before she breaks the rules again, and then speaks so disrespectfully to you when you try to explain the importance of the rules to her. And I would have Rosalie address that other stuff with her. About nobody choosing this life for her, and being a freak. She might not accept the truth coming from anyone else. Rose may not want to talk to her at first, but just like with Bella, she'll come around to having the talk with her if she's asked by the right person and in the right way."

"Wait, back up. Slow down." Edward said shaking his head. He knew what Jasper had said aloud, and he knew what he heard running through his brother's mind. But part of him couldn't believe what Jasper was suggesting. "Are you telling me to bite Nessie?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying. It's the only way to punish a Vampire without permanent damage. Well, it leaves a scar, but the rest of it…it grows back. Like I said, it hurts like crud, but it's the only way. She's too much Vampire to spank like a human child, and too human to bite off anymore from somewhere else."

"I can't do that…" Edward said sadly and shook his head once more.

"Do you want me to do it? You don't even have to be in the room at the time. She needs to learn this lesson now, rather than later. And this method has been proven to be very effective on newborns. And unfortunately, she's not acting much better than one of them at the moment."

Edward acted like he didn't even hear the offer. "I mean, would you be able to bite Cassandra like that, knowing how much it hurts?"

"I hope I would be able to. It is the best punishment I know, and Cassie is going to need some guidance. But it's not going to be easy. I understand that, and like I said I can handle Nessie if you need me to do it."

"What happens when Bella gets home and finds out? Worse, what happens when Jacob finds out?"

"I'll talk to Bella, and she can talk to Jacob. If that doesn't work, then we'll get Rosalie involved in that too. Alice told me once that she would be on our side if something like this ever happened. A child needs discipline after all."

"Alright. Let me think about this. It's a parent's responsibility. I can't ask you to punish her for me, but if I don't have the strength to go through with it..."

"Then you know where I'll be. And Edward, if I ever can't go through with a punishment for Cassie…"

"Then you know where I'll be." Edward answered Jasper's unspoken question.

_And don't hold back, she'll sense the hesitance and use it to manipulate you. _Jasper added the last part silently before disappearing in a flash.

Edward could hear Alice's voice in his head, overlapping Jasper's thoughts. Obviously, she had been listening in during the past few minutes as well. _I can't tell you if this is going to work or not, but I think you need to let Jasper handle it. I can see you looking very disappointed about something, but then I see satisfied resolve on his face. I know you're worried that he'll let his empathy get in the way, but don't worry, it won't. He's done things like this too many times to be affected by it too strongly. He's going to talk to me about it after it's all over, and he'll be ok. Just let him do it. _After another couple of seconds, Alice's thoughts continued. _You're doing the right thing Edward. _

Obviously, he had already made his decision rather he knew it or not, Alice did. He started to slowly climb the stairs. "Jasper." He called as he reached the top one.

"Already changed your mind?" He heard Jasper's response.

"Alice said it would work better if I just let you handle it. Apparently, I'm not up to it. But I'm not going to let you go in alone. Nessie needs to know that even if I couldn't carry out the act myself, the punishment is still from me."

The two men walked side by side to Renesmee's room without any more words being exchanged between them. They exchanged a serious look, and then Edward nodded once signaling Jasper to open the bedroom door.

"Dad? Uncle Jasper?" Nessie was startled when the two of them entered. She had heard them talking, but hadn't been able to discern their words. Her hearing wasn't as good as a full Vampire's hearing would be. It was another testament to her freakishness. Edward couldn't tell if their presence was really a surprise to his daughter, or if her darting eyes were more out of the fear of what she knew was coming her way. Nessie's eyes met Jasper's and some silent communication must have passed or failed to pass between the two of them because the next voice Edward heard in his head was Nessie's desperate plea. _Please, don't let him do it, Daddy. I really am sorry. I had a bad day. Am I too young to use hormones as an excuse? Please, just please, don't let him do this. I don't know exactly what this is yet, but it's not going to be good, I know that much. The last time he looked this way…oh crud, please stop him. I'll never do it again. _Edward didn't speak, or blink, or hesitate. But he did cut his eyes in Jasper's direction, hoping to get a hint from his brother of what Nessie must have seen. And what he saw scared him. The last time Jasper's expression had been this intense was the time when they had fought Victoria's newborn army. He was in focused, soldier mode as Alice had called it. There would be no stopping him. Not now, not even if Edward had wanted to stop him.

"Turn around, face the wall, and take off your shirt." Jasper told Renesmee in much the same way he would have ordered around any other newborn. He hated doing this to Nessie, but it was the only way to stay objective and in this case Nessie needed to be punished so that she wouldn't disobey again, and if he allowed himself to feel anything, then she wouldn't get the punishment that she deserved and needed. He forced himself not to monitor Nessie's emotions, and not to manipulate them for the better or the worse. If she was a member of his army, he would have thrown a healthy dose of fear and remorse her way, but he couldn't do that to Nessie. It would be far too intense for her, and it would go beyond his role as disciplinarian.

For a second, Renesmee considered defying Jasper's order, but as his look grew more intense, she re-thought her rebellious tendency and immediately did as he had told her. As the young girl's shirt came off, the two brothers exchanged another glance. _This is it. Any regrets? You want to do it? Or do you still trust me enough to handle this? And since when does she wear bras? It's not like she needs them or anything. _The last stray thought that Jasper couldn't keep from his mind resulted in a deep growl from Edward. _Must have been Bella's idea. She took to the whole mom thing rather interestingly. _Edward growled a second time at the expanded errant thought. _I'm sorry. I'll go back to focusing on the task at hand. _

Misunderstanding the reason for her father's growls, Nessie shuddered slightly out of fear. "Dad, Uncle Jasper, please don't do this. I won't break any more rules. I promise." The girl pleaded with the two men, but refused to turn her head to look at them, choosing instead to focus on a single spot on the wall in front of her eyes. She could feel hot tears building in her eyes, and one started to glide down her cheek. She hated that part of her human side, crying, it made her feel so weak. At least Carlise said that it would stop once she stopped growing older.

Jasper could smell the tears that were now flowing freely from his niece's eyes, and was glad that he had learned early on to make a newborn face away from him when he was about to deliver a punishment. If Nessie turned around now, he knew that he would back down. "Raise your left arm." Jasper barked in the style of the civil war major that he was. He had to swallow a mouth full of venom that had pooled far too quickly under the strain of maintaining objectivity. Usually blocking someone's emotions was next to impossible for him, and when he had trained newborns, he wasn't nearly as careful as he was now. Then he could use the newborn's emotions against him or her. He didn't want to do that with Nessie, and if he allowed himself to absorb her emotions, he wouldn't be able to follow through with the punishment. He forced himself to focus. His goal wasn't to leave a scar, not this time. It was just to make Renesmee learn to behave in the future, and think twice before breaking the rules. Flexing his muscles in preparation, and double checking that his mouth and throat were free of venom, Jasper wasted no more time. His strike was quick and professionally executed.

There was the sound of rocks crashing against one another, and granite ripping, then Nessie's sudden scream, and her collapse to the floor. Those were the only indications of what was happening in the room. Jasper was still holding the chunk of Renesmee's arm that he had ripped off with his teeth, but at the girl's collapse, he spat the flesh across the room, and forced himself to turn away from the sight. His expression was clearly just as pained as Renesmee's and when Edward met his eyes and heard his thoughts, and felt the second-hand emotions that Jasper exuded, his expression also became pained. _No one has ever screamed like that. Or collapsed like that. She's either really hurt, or she's milking this to make us feel sorry for her, or guilty. No, she's just feeling surprised, and shocked, not pain. Oh, crud, she feels betrayed…I can't block it, I'm sorry...she hates me….hates us….Oh, crud, this is too intense, I've got to get out of here. I'm sorry, Edward. _Jasper's thoughts had far too quickly turned from diagnosis, to frantic as Nessie's emotions overwhelmed him.

Edward didn't need to hear Jasper's thoughts to know what Nessie was feeling. He had heard everything in his daughter's mind. She was surprised, but not any more hurt than she should be. The emotional pain was more than the physical pain. But there was also understanding in her thoughts. She was probably feeling the understanding as well, but Jasper couldn't pick it up since it was buried so far beneath the surface. Edward knew that often his brother couldn't detect a deeper emotion when the surface ones were too intense. He should be thankful that he was able to pick up on the deeper thoughts, even when the surface ones were so powerful, but now was not the time to try to outdo Jasper. Edward knew that Jasper's actions today had cost him a lot. He knew that Jasper didn't leave any scars, and that Nessie would forgive him, understanding why he did what he did, but it would be a long time before Jasper forgot the intensity of her emotions.

"Just know that this hurt Jasper and me much more than it hurt you. We love you. That's why we had to do this. And I think you know that." Edward managed to croak out the words before following Jasper out of Nessie's room.

"I really am sorry, Daddy. I promise not to break the rules anymore." Renesmee whispered between sobs as she watched the two men leave her room. The burning pain in her arm was starting to become more manageable now, and she shifted positions on the floor so she could see the damage that Jasper had caused for herself. As expected, there was huge hole in the tender part of the underside of her upper arm. The area was already beginning to regenerate itself, and Renesmee knew that within a couple hours she would be completely back to normal. She understood why they had done what they had done, but was too angry to admit anything more than the fact that she was sorry for what she had done. Or at least sorry that Jasper and her dad were such meanies about it all.

"I wish I knew if she meant it." Edward mused to himself as he stepped into the hallway. Nessie's last thought about him and Jasper being meanies hadn't escaped him. He must have decided to ask Alice that very question because he soon heard her voice in his head.

_Well I don't see you, Bella, Jasper, or anybody else trying to punish her again, or at least not talking about it before or after the event, so I'd say that it worked. _Alice thought from where she was watching over Cassandra. _How's Jazz? Tell me it's not as bad as it looks. I really should stay here until after Cassandra's changed. I promised her that I wouldn't leave, but I don't want him to suffer like this without me. Just tell me my vision of him is overrated and I'll be quiet. _It wasn't fair for Edward to lie to her about the man that she loved. He would expect the same thing if their roles were reversed and he was asking about Bella. As soon as Edward made the decision to tell Alice just how bad Jasper really was, he heard a response. _It is that bad. Come sit with Cassandra. She'll understand why I had to leave. Jasper needs me more right now. He's already crossed paths with Bella, and he's sending her home. Do me a favor though, and before you talk to her, make sure that Carlise or Esme or even Rosalie is in here with Cassandra._

Less than a second later, Alice and Edward had traded places and she was on her way to find a distraught Jasper. Looking ahead, she saw that she would meet up with Bella before she found Jasper. Thankfully, he would have time to feast on a large buck before she found him. That would help him to relax a little, but not nearly enough to return home to Nessie and Cassie's strong reactions.

"Alice, what happened? I just saw Jasper. He was a wreak. Emmett's trying to get him to track a herd of deer with him, but Jasper did say that I should go home. Is something wrong? Is it Edward? Renesmee? Cassandra? I want the truth, Alice. What's going on?"

"Everybody's ok, Bella. Really. Cassandra's change is going very well, and Edward is sitting with her now. But there is something that you need to know. It's something that Edward is going to have to talk to you about. He had to punish Renesmee."

Bella still hadn't re-learned all of her human reactions, so instead of sighing in relief, she didn't breathe at all, and instead of nodding her understanding, or shaking her head in disbelief, she didn't move at all. "Ok. I don't suppose that I'll get any more details until I talk to Edward, so, thanks, Alice." Bella said before she started running toward the house.

"Bella's home. And she doesn't look too happy." Rosalie announced as she came into Cassandra's room to find Edward. "I'll sit in here for a while so you can go talk to her."

"Thank you, Rose. She's been pretty quiet, but she is whimpering a little. It seemed to help when I sang to her. If I'm not back soon, then send a rescue party for me. Bella's not going to be very happy. Carlise and Esme are in their room if you need anything." Edward mumbled as he stood to go find his wife.

"I know. I can hear them." Rosalie grumbled, rolling her eyes. "And for what it's worth, I think you did the right thing by punishing Nessie Jasper's way and not waiting."

"Yeah. Now if only Bella would agree. But somehow I don't think that she will."

"Why wouldn't she agree?"

"Her shield allows her to see actions like that for the barbaric things they are. The rest of us see it as a way of life. She doesn't. Carlise says that her mind was protected just enough during the change that things that seemed harsh when she was human still seem harsh now."

"Well, whatever she thinks, it was a well deserved barbarian action. I only hope that Jasper will be able to do the same to Cassandra when she crosses the line. It'll increase our chance of defense against the Volturi."

"If he can't handle it, then I'll do it. It was the deal we made before punishing Renesmee." Edward admitted quietly, but honestly.

"I get it. The dad decides when punishment is necessary, and the uncle enforces it."

"Yep. You and Emmett are welcome to join in any time you want."

"No thank you. You've probably already heard some of my not so kind thoughts on the subject of aunt-hood."

"After the initial pleasantry, yes. I meant to ask you about it. It's so confusing listening to you lately. One minute you seem happy to have Nessie and Cassie around. The next, you absolutely loathe the thought of them, or rather the thought of being an aunt. I think…I get it." Edward said the last part slowly, meeting Rosalie's eyes like he rarely did.

"Look, Edward, I'm sorry, ok. I just, I can't help it. I'm the one who wanted to be a mother, and now everyone else in this house is one except for me. I don't get it. Why can't luck happen to me the way it did to Alice? I have wanted it so much more, and for so much longer than her."

"You're trying too hard, Rose. Ever hear the phrase, life is what happens when you least expect it?"

"Yeah, ok, smartie, I get it. Now, go talk to Bella." As if to second Rosalie's order, Cassie groaned out loudly in pain, forcing her to take the young girl's hand and shift her attention off of Edward.

"Hey, Bella. Rose said that you were back. I thought the plan was to keep Emmett away until Cassandra was fully changed." Edward said, playing innocent as he entered the small cottage Esme had fixed up for him and Bella.

"Don't play stupid with me, Edward Cullen. You know good and well why I'm back early and you don't think that I would make Emmett come back for this. He is still enjoying his hunt. And by the way, you'd better have a good explanation for why both Jasper and Alice were insistent that I talk to you about a certain child and a certain punishment right away. I was on the trail of a puma when Jasper interrupted with his angsty emotions. A puma, Edward! Do you know how rare puma's are in this area?"

Edward flinched at Bella's tone. She seemed more upset about losing the scent of her next meal, than the fact that her daughter just got punished for the first time. He knew that she was just giving him a hard time about the puma, and that it was her way of dealing with the real issue at hand. It was defense mechanism that she had picked up sometime after being changed. Emmett probably had a role in it. Edward just wasn't sure what that role had been. He suspected that if Bella chose to drop her shield in that moment, that he would hear thoughts of genuine frustration. "I'm sorry about the puma, Bella. I really am. I promise that the next one I come across is all yours. I suppose that Jasper and Alice thought that it would be best if I talked to you sooner rather than later. After all, you'll probably be the only one who can explain what happened to Jacob in a way that he can understand and accept. And he is due to visit Renesmee tonight."

"I'll forgive you, eventually." She stood on her tiptoes and planted a small kiss on Edward's cheek to show that she meant what she had said. "Now, tell me what happened."

"Carlise had asked Jasper to wait for Ms. Tacarra, the family lawyer, to bring some papers by the house for him and Alice. She was just about to leave, completely satisfied that she was doing the right thing, when Renesmee 'got curious' about the human in the house. So, instead of asking someone upstairs about her, she decided to disobey the number one rule in this house and took it upon herself to wander downstairs and ask Jasper about the human woman right in front of Ms. Tacarra. Thankfully, Jasper stayed in control long enough to let Ms. Tacarra get out the door. I should have been watching her more closely, so I take some responsibility for what happened. As it is, I didn't even know what was happening until Alice asked me where Nessie was. Apparently, Jasper had disappeared from her vision. Anyway, I don't think that it ruined any permanent relations with Ms. Tacarra, but that's the only good news. Renesmee showed no remorse for breaking the rules, and she was very disrespectful to Jasper and to me when we tried to explain why she shouldn't have come downstairs. All she could do was act like an obstinate child-wanna-be-teenager. So, I had to punish her for breaking the rules and being disrespectful about it. I don't think she'll pull something like this again. I asked Jasper to help me with the punishment using something that he learned while training newborns for Maria. Renesmee wouldn't have responded to a spanking the way that a fully human child would. So, we were forced to punish her like we would have punished a fully vampire child. We had to bite her."

"Bite her! Renesmee is still half-human. I don't disagree with the punishment itself. It sounds like she did deserve one, but I wish you had talked to me about the method of punishment first."

Expecting his wife's reaction, Edward simply placed a hand on Bella's shoulder and offered her a smile. "Exactly. She's only half human. Right now, she's acting out more like a vampire."

"What? A human child isn't allowed to misbehave?"

"No, Bella, I didn't say that. All I meant was that Renesmee is acting more like a vampire in the sense that she wasn't going to learn from a simple spanking. She needed something a little more appropriate, so when Jasper told me about his chosen method…"

"Wait a minute, back up. Who's idea was it to bite her? Yours or Jaspers?"

"Well, Jasper thought about it first. And he did tell me where to bite her. But I completely agreed that it was the right punishment. Vampires only learn when they get bit. Literally."

"And Jasper's the one who did the actual biting?"

"Yes."

"Are you Renesmee's dad or is Jasper? Why did he have to tell you how to punish your own daughter and why did you let him carry out the punishment instead of doing it yourself? If you were too chicken to do it yourself, then why didn't you wait for me? I could have talked to her. Maybe I could have…"

"No, you couldn't have, Bella." Her words had stung, and he needed to address them, but he needed to tackle one problem at a time. They could come back to his inability to discipline his own child later. He couldn't bite Nessie for the same reason that Bella wouldn't have been able to get through to her by talking to her. "Renesmee is growing into quite the little rebel, and she needs to learn now that rules are to be followed. If we forgave this incident without punishing her, what would have come next? And worse, what would the Volturi have done if they found out that Nessie used her ability in front of a human, especially, an intelligent human lawyer. I did try talking to her, and she didn't listen. Apparently, she's acting out because she feels like a misfit, and before you offer to talk to her about that, I think it would be better to have Rose talk to her."

"Was that Jasper's idea too?"

"Yes, it was, and that brings me to my next point. I'm not letting Jasper or anyone else take over the role as Nessie's father, but he is my brother, and the two of us have a lot of history together. A lot of times we think with the same mind. Emmett and Carlise think that way too sometimes. Jasper was just the one around when all this happened. It could have been anyone else in the house, and they would have said essentially the same things that he did. One thing about Vampires that I think you don't understand yet is that we look out for each other and we take over for each other when one of us can't finish a job. We get so attached, so involved in something that it is sometimes impossible for one of us to do something alone. In this case, I'm so close to Nessie that I could never bite her, not even to punish her when she deserves it. Just like I could never intentionally bite you or cause you pain. Jasper's my back-up if you will. And pretty soon, I'll have to be his back-up with Cassandra. There's no doubt that she'll disobey at some point and need to be punished, and Jasper already knows he won't be able to do it, he could never treat his daughter like a member of his army. And before you say it, no, that's not how he treats Nessie, either. It's just an expression."

"Ok, ok. I get it. All of it. I get the stuff about you and about Jasper and about Renesmee. But I just wish…"

"I know. I do too." Edward said before pulling Bella into a tight embrace.

Without breaking contact, Bella asked, "So, how's it going with Cassandra?"

"Good. She gave up screaming awhile ago, and she's mostly just moaning occasionally now. Alice hadn't left her side the entire time until she ran after Jasper, but she's keeping in touch even now." Edward said the last part as he pointed to his temple with a smirk. "Rosalie is in with her right now. But Alice should be back within another few minutes."

"Think she'd like some company?"

"I don't know. You could just _ask_ her." Edward said with a wink.

"Right." Bella still couldn't get use to the way the Cullen's sometimes communicated through Edward and Alice and sometimes even through Jasper. Now that she thought about it more, she realized that Jasper punishing Renesmee in Edward's stead did make perfectly logical sense. The three siblings with abilities were all very interconnected thanks to those abilities and often it truly did seem as if they were the same person. And to some extent, the more that she developed her own ability, the more she started to blend with the other three. But her ability was different. It was odd and she still felt like an outsider at times. But, on the other hand, that could simply be due to the fact that her ability was still so new, and with more time and experience that barrier would disappear.

Shaking her head to clear it of the errant thoughts, Bella made the decision to join Alice at Cassandra's bedside as soon as she returned, and then looked up at Edward expectantly, "Well?"

"Give her a minute. She can't process the vision and respond quite that quickly." Edward teased at the same time that he heard Alice's voice in his head. "She says that she'd be glad to have the company. You can meet her outside in ten minutes. She needs a little longer with Jasper and apparently I'm going to be needed for something else very soon."

Before either of them had a chance to say anything else to each other, Carlise's voice drifted down the stairs. "Edward, I need your help in the lab."

"Coming." Edward called back to his adopted father, but without raising his voice. "I'll see you tonight, Bella."

"Yeah, later tonight." Bella echoed with a smile, kissed Edward on the cheek and breezed away to wait for Alice on the front porch. Seconds later, Edward made his way up to Carlise's attic lab.

"Jasper?" Alice said slowly as she approached the clearing and saw Jasper sitting on a large boulder with his back turned to her.

Hearing Alice's soft footfalls and gentle voice, Jasper raised his head, but didn't turn around to look at her. "Alice." He said simply, as he sensed the love of his life slide over to sit next to him on the boulder.

"Edward told me what happened. About your reaction." Alice's voice was kind and quiet, silent to human ears.

"Yeah." The single word was all that he could handle saying at the moment.

"Are you going to be ok?"

Jasper shook his head from side to side, and shrugged his shoulders, raising his eyebrows in a very human gesture, and met Alice's eyes for the first time since she had joined him. "No. I don't know. I hope so." He stammered and then nodded toward the now dry carcass of the buck Alice had seen in her vision. "But that helped." He took an unnecessary breath and after a moment of silence continued his musing. "It was worse than anything I've ever felt before, Alice. And that's saying a lot. I didn't know Nessie could feel all of that, or feel it that deeply. It's one of those times when I find that I'm actually in physical pain. I'm sorry I ran away, but I just couldn't be that close to it. I can still feel her, even out here. She feels so betrayed and it's all directed at me." As Jasper spoke, Alice started gently rubbing his shoulders, thinking only of all the love that she had for him. Hopefully, her love could penetrate the dark cloud around him, and he would start to return to normal. "It's hard to know where her feelings end and mine begin. Don't stop. That's helping too." He told Alice when her movements slowed. "Do you think she can ever forgive me? I only did this because I love her and don't want to see the Volturi come after her. It was the only thing I knew to do, and Edward agreed that it was the only way. I know why he couldn't do it himself, and I'm thinking now that I won't be able to do it ever again. And that leaves us all in a very awkward place when she pulls something like this again. What if this, what if I, pushed her to the edge? What if she just keeps rebelling more after this? I don't think I can handle that. Alice, I don't know what to do, and you can't see her, so you can't help."

Alice continued her gentle massage of Jasper's shoulders, and kept pouring her love into him, knowing that the darkness still had yet to be pierced. It was important for him to talk about this, to get rid of all his excess melancholy, but she needed to draw the line somewhere, and that time and place was now. "Ugh, Jasper, come on, if you don't stop this, pretty soon, I'm going to start feeling it too, and you don't want that, do you?" It was a tactic that had worked in the past. He never wanted to hurt her, and when she was around, he would always have her love to lean on, and therefore should be able to dismiss all else. The love of a mate really did go that deep, deeper even than Nessie's betrayal. One thing that Jasper could do with his ability was absorb other emotions and push out the ones that he was currently feeling. It was a simple replacement theory, but it required a conscious decision from Jasper, and it was the most difficult part of his ability for him to master. Alice felt it the moment that Jasper decided to give in to her tempting. The love and admiration that was pushed back at her was stronger than any he had ever sent to her before. She purred in pleasure, before she found her voice again. "There, now, isn't that better? And now that you're in a better place, we can talk sensibly about the rest of what you said. Yes, Nessie will forgive you. I can't see it, you're right. But, I can see that the whole family is going to be very happy forever. That vision has never changed. Not even when Nessie was being punished. I can't tell you if she's going to continue to rebel or not, but I can tell you that you'll only continue to get stronger, and more capable of handling difficult emotions. I have an idea that you'll feel things in the future that are even worse than what you felt today. But you'll continue to handle it better and better every time."

"Worse than this, Alice? I don't think that I wanted to know that. I may be deeply in love with you right now, and I'm half delirious with it, but Nessie's feelings are still lingering behind. That's never happened before, and I can't push it away, even with your love."

"Oh, Jazz." Alice said half out of the love she had always felt for him, and half out of the new emotions she was feeling for her mate. She wished that she could take away the lingering darkness, to feel it all for him. To feel it all for him. To feel it all for him. The thought continued to bounce around in her head, until she finally spoke it aloud. She and Jasper had never tried anything like this before, but it was worth a shot, and if she asked him the right way, he might just agree to try it. "Jazzy, I have an idea." She buried her face into his chest trying to get as close to him as she could, and then looked up to meet his eyes. "I can't see how this going to turn out, but I need you to try something." She paused for his response.

Jasper ran his fingers through Alice's short hair, holding her even closer to him, and took another deep unnecessary breath. "Ok. For you Alice, I'll try anything."

"I'm glad you said that." And without any further prelude, she continued. "I want you to try pushing that lingering junk from Nessie at me."

"What?" Jasper asked stunned.

"Try pushing it at me. Make me feel what Nessie made you feel, what you're still feeling. Make me feel it, then let it go, let me absorb it from you, like you absorb my love."

"Alice, I…"

"I know. You don't want to hurt me, and I know it's going to be difficult, but if it'll help you, then I can handle it. Please, let me help you. And if it works, then it'll give us something else to use the next time something like this happens. You can use me to help take away your pain, and we'll get through it together. I can release it quicker than you, and once the darkness and pain is gone, you can feel something else, like love, and push that at me, so I won't have to hurt for long, and if it helps, then all we'll be left with is love."

"I don't know, Alice. It is going to hurt you, and I don't know if I can do that to you."

"Jazz." Alice said simply, and concentrated on all of her love for him once more.

"Oh, that's not fair." Jasper mumbled almost overcome with the new desire to do anything in the world for this woman who loved him so deeply. "Ok, I'll try it. But don't say that I didn't warn you."

"I know." Alice said taking a deep unnecessary breath of her own. "I'm ready."

"Ok. Here goes." The two lovers met each other's eyes, and tightened the death grips with which they clung to each other.

Alice gasped at the onslaught that poured into her from Jasper. There was love, then the dark pain of betrayal that she knew had originated from Nessie, then love again. The process felt like it took hours, but it had really only been seconds. "Did it work?" She panted when she could find her voice again. This was one time when it was a good thing that she didn't need to breath.

"No, it didn't. It's still there and I hurt you." Jasper said sadly shaking his head.

"Let's try it again. This time without the love envelope and sustain it for longer. You were holding back before. I barely felt the darkness at all."

"No. It's too much." Jasper started to protest.

Alice pulled Jasper's face down to meet hers and kissed him long and hard on the lips. "Yes, it is too much for you. Let me help. Please. I handled the test run just fine. It's time for the real deal now. No more holding back on me Jasper Whitlock."

"Oh, so not fair." He continued after a long pause. "Ok. Close your eyes." That was one thing that he couldn't handle. He could never look at Alice's eyes knowing that he was the one causing her the pain that he knew would be reflected in them. He closed his eyes as well, and leaned down so that his forehead was resting against hers. It was a comfortable and familiar position for them both. They had often cuddled this way when Jasper allowed them to experience the same emotions down a two way highway like he was about to create now.

Jasper could feel the darkness ripping open and leaking out of his soul and into Alice's fragile body. He growled as the two sides of the interaction battled for dominance. He wanted to protect Alice, but at the same time, he knew that she was right. He did need to find a release for the darkness that kept holding him down. And Alice really was the only one who could help. She had felt so much more of him than anyone else, and she was the only one he could trust to handle the release of what remained of Nessie's dark emotions. He growled again as the last of the darkness left him. All that lingered behind were the remnants that Alice was fighting not to reflect back on him, and slowly, those too faded away. "It's done. Are you ok?" He managed to rasp.

Alice could feel Jasper's body tense and heard his growls with the effort it was taking him to let her absorb the darkness. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She hurriedly reassured him. "Just keep holding me. That was…" For once, words had failed Alice.

"Yeah, I know." Jasper was quick to reassure her that she didn't need to use words. What she was feeling told him everything that he needed to know.

Alice's eyes went out of focus for the briefest of moments as she had a vision of Bella joining her at Cassandra's bedside. _Tell her to give me ten minutes, Edward. And by the way, Carlise needs you. _She silently sent the message to Edward to give to Bella knowing that they were still within range of his mind reading radar. "I can't believe that I almost forgot about Cassandra." She sadly admitted aloud to Jasper.

"Hey, don't do that. I'm sure that when she matures enough, Cassie will understand why you thought you had to leave. And I for one am very, very grateful that you chose to come find me."


	9. Newborn Days

**Author's Note: Thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed and have continued to read this story. Sorry, it seems to take me forever between updates. Anyway, here's the moment that you've all been waiting for. Please leave your constructive thoughts and keep coming back for more.**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, and events are the property of the awesome Stephanie Meyers. No copyright infringement is intended.**

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She's waking up.

Edward's head popped up from the magazine he was reading as he heard the long anticipated thought from Alice two days later. Things had been much quieter in the Cullen home since the incident with Renesmee, a thing for which everyone was grateful. And Edward had chosen to take advantage of the silence by catching up on the latest issue of "American Songwriter." He would have normally skipped the article on the latest interview with _Sugarland_, but Bella seemed interested the group, so he had decided to go ahead and read it this time. Maybe he would learn something new with which he could impress his love. _Bella._ He really missed her. He didn't know that he could miss her this much. After her failed attempts at trying to talk to Nessie on the first day of Cassie's changing, she had decided to find Emmett and go hunting with him like she had originally planned. _Nessie._ That girl was starting to become a very big handful. She was giving everyone else in the house the silent treatment, not talking to them, and not bothering to communicate in her other unique way. She had all but locked herself in her room during the duration of Cassie's change. As soon as this was all over, he was going to have to confront her. This couldn't go on forever. Rosalie had agreed to talk to her on Edward and Bella's behalf, but so far, Nessie had refused to converse with her. But Rosalie could be extremely persistent when she wanted to be. And apparently, so could Alice.

_Edward, where are you? Get Carlise and Jasper. It's time. _Alice thought to her brother for the second time. _What is taking you so long?_

"Sorry, I wanted to finish reading the _Sugarland _interview. I hope nothing changed during the extra thirty seconds that it took us." Edward apologized as he came into the room with Jasper and Carlise. Less than a second later, four vampires were surrounding the bed on which the newest member of their family would soon be waking.

"Not much longer now." Alice promised and watched as Jasper tensed for the expected initial violence Cassandra would have upon waking into her new existence.

Cassandra woke up slowly, much more slowly than Carlise remembered ever seeing before. It was hard for everyone to watch the young girl look around herself with the bright red eyes of a newborn, seeing things in a way that was so different from any way she had ever seen them before. No one spoke, but Edward thought his head would explode with all the thoughts bouncing around the room. He could hear Jasper fighting to stay focused in the sea of mixed emotions that were pouring from the young girl, who still sat silent and motionless on the bed. And he could hear Alice's quick frustration with her inability to see Cassandra's future. There were no blurs, no flashes, just blackness. He met her eyes, but at a quick shake of her head, chose not to share the bit of information with the other members of their family gathered in the room.

"My throat burns." Cassandra wheezed as her eyes darted impossibly fast between the three men and the one woman that were at her bedside. The three simple words were a relief for everyone to hear. They all watched as the child's awareness of her new body slowly took shape.

"Here. This will help until you're ready to go hunting." Carlise said kindly, offering the girl the bag of O-negative blood that he had brought home from the hospital in anticipation of these first few moments of Cassie's new existence. They all watched as the girl hungrily devoured the full contents of the bag. "Better?" Carlise asked as Cassie licked the last of the red substance from her lips.

"Yes. Thank you." Cassie told Carlise sincerely, but a split second later, she was looking at Alice. "Did it work? Am I one of you now? Am I a Vampire Angel? I must be. I don't feel sick anymore. In fact, I feel like I could run forever. Can I? Can I run forever? And my throat does still burn a little. I want more of whatever was in that bag. Was it blood? It's a lot better than I thought it would be. I like it. Can I have some more of that too?" The words were spoken fast, so fast a human would have never understood them.

Alice grinned widely at the beautiful young woman in front of her. Cassie was more gorgeous as a vampire than Alice had thought possible. "Oh, yes, you are one of us. You are a beautiful angel. And yes, you can run forever and then some. Just not all in one day. You still have to learn how to listen to your instincts so that you can hunt. Unfortunately the blood you'll get when you hunt isn't quite as good as what you just had, but it'll do fine. And then we have to go shopping for an entire new wardrobe for you, and decorations to make this room more yours, and we'll have to teach you how to blend in with humans, but that'll be easy enough. Vamps are fast learners after all. I can't wait to show you everything that's possible now that you're one of us." The small pixie had started talking at a normal human pace, but as her excitement grew her words sped up, and by the end of her speech, she had started dancing in place.

Jasper smiled as he enjoyed his wife's excitement. But he was always aware of the now overwhelmed look on Cassie's face, and the slowly growing nervousness from the young girl. Before Jasper could react and stop his wife, Alice moved forward and reached to embrace Cassie. He knew would happen next, but could only watch as the expected event unfolded in front of him. Cassie hissed at the sudden approach, and faster than a speeding bullet, she was off the bed and across the room. Alice froze in place, startled by the reaction. She cautiously cut her eyes to the side to meet Jasper's. He nodded at her, conveying without words, that he was calming Cassie enough now for her to speak to the girl without worrying about frightening her again. "I'm sorry, Cassie. I forgot how easy it is to be startled by movement when you aren't use to everything yet. I won't hurt you, I promise. Come sit back on the bed. I won't try to hug you again until you're ready."

Cassie was trying to watch all four of the other vampires in the room at once. She knew that she was safe with them, and that none of them would ever hurt her, but something in the pit of her stomach told her to be careful, to be weary. That feeling was what had caused her to retreat so suddenly when Alice had approached her. Seconds later, however, she was feeling calmer and more comfortable and more trusting than she could ever remember. Something in the back of her mind told her that it wasn't real, that it was just Jasper manipulating her emotions. But just the same, she nodded slowly at Alice's words and obeyed by reclaiming her spot on the bed. "I'm sorry. I was just surprised. I know you won't hurt me." She mumbled to those gathered in the room.

The following days, weeks, and months proved to be more of a challenge than anyone had thought possible. The atmosphere within the Cullen home was vastly different than before. It was clear that like Bella, Cassandra wasn't the typical newborn. Part of it was due to Jasper and Bella's intervention, but a much larger part of it seemed to come from Cassandra herself. The outcome of her transformation had lent more and more credence to Carlise's ever growing theory about vampires in the modern world. Namely that the attitude in which one enters their change affects a lot more than just their initial post change attitude. If he could sit down with each carnivorous vampire in a face-to-face, one on one conversation, maybe he could lead each vampire to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle, one at a time. It would be a slow process, and the Volturi would never agree to let him try, and the other vampires, even those he had considered friends for many, many decades, would never be open to letting him try to change their attitudes. It was too difficult to change a vampire, they would argue with him. But it could be done. His whole family was a case in point: they had each changed in very subtle ways. First when they met Bella, and later when Renesmee was born, and now with Cassandra. Each change was small and wouldn't have been of much consequence if Carlise hadn't been looking for it. But he had been and his looking had paid off. Vampires could change and if they worked at it enough, they could all become vegetarians. Esme and Emmett were close now, very close, all so close, to being able to handle human blood in moderate amounts without going completely crazy. Alice, Edward, and Rosalie were now nearly as immune to it as Carlise. Even Jasper had shown marked improvement in his control around humans. With a little more work, Carlise was certain that he could reach Esme and Emmett's current level of control, and maybe even his level some day. If Jasper could do that, then Carlise was certain that there wasn't a vampire on Earth that couldn't become a vegetarian. Human life would be preserved from their kind forever. The horror of newborns would be virtually eliminated. The possibilities in Carlise's mind were endless.

It was with these thoughts in mind that Carlise retired to his office that evening, leaving Esme to a new project of her own, curtains. They would be yellow this time, not white. Esme was tired of white, but yellow would be perfect. All the Cullens had thought so when she first brought up the idea. Rosalie had even volunteered to help her sew them, and Emmett had promised not to rip them to shreds within a month of hanging them like he had the last new set.

Two doors down the hall from his office, Alice and Jasper were spending some much needed alone time with each other. Alice was curled up in Jasper's arms, perfectly content to just lie next to him and breathe in his deep scent, and let him feel the love she had for him. They both needed the quiet moments like this one to re-charge before facing another day of training Cassandra.

"Jazz?" She finally spoke.

"Hmm…." He sighed without changing his position to let Alice know to continue.

"What were you talking to Carlise about earlier today?"

Jasper, not sure how much to tell Alice about the conversation with Carlise, hesitated before answering. He had been trying not to think about it too much for fear that Alice would see what he intended to try. Finally he spoke, if only to keep her from looking ahead too far. "Change."

"And?" She prompted when it became clear the one word would be his only answer.

"We were talking about how Vampires can change, and how much they can change and how attitudes are related to hunger."

"Carlise's theory on making all vampires into vegetarians by examining their attitudes at the time they were changed and then relating that to something in their current existence in an effort to control their hunger." Alice summed wisely, already knowing the outcome of the famous Carlisian Theory on Vampirism.

"Yeah. How did you know about all that?" Jasper asked surprised. Alice gave him a coy smile and shrugged. "You've seen it! How? I mean, does it actually work?"

"Oh, Jazz, don't look so surprised. Remember, I saw you decades before we met. Some things are just meant to happen. And Carlise's theory is one of them I suppose. I'm just surprised at the timing of it. I mean, I didn't expect Cassandra to be the catalyst for it. As for how it turns out, that I can't see. There are just too many variables. It's impossible to know at this point if it'll work or not. I really hope it does, especially for you. But I can't see it. At least not yet. I suspect I'll a get headache thinking about all the different outcomes before the end. Promise me, you'll really work at this one. The harder you try, the more clear the vision will get, and I can't wait to see how it turns out."

"What if it doesn't work? What if Carlise's theory is wrong? And what if my control just gets worse by trying too hard?"

"I don't have all the answers Jazz. But I do know that you don't have it in you to fail. You do want better control, don't you?"

"Of course I do, Ali."

"Then you'll get it. Either this way, or just with more time, you'll succeed. Because you want it. You want it for Cassandra. Everyone's noticed how you keep watching her so closely. But it's because you don't want her to make your mistakes. I know that you keep saying it's for her own good, but I think a big part of it is for your good too."

"Yeah. I guess you're right about that. I am watching her pretty closely. And it is for my sake as well as her own. And I know that it's starting to bother her, but if I slack off in watching her, and she messes up, then we'll both feel guilty, and I don't think that anyone in this family wants that. I think Cassandra may be starting to develop an ability. I think she may be a mirror. She probably doesn't realize it yet, and I don't know how strong it'll get, but there's definitely potential there. I considered calling Eleazar to help identify it, but every time I've tried to contact him lately, Carmen says that he's busy. In the meantime, I don't want her to ruin her chances of developing her ability properly because she messes up early on."

"I love you." Alice said honestly as she listened to Jasper's explanation. His careful watchfulness over Cassandra made more sense to her now. A mirror ability was very fragile and Jasper was right to monitor her so closely.

"I love you too," Jasper whispered to his wife and bent forward to kiss her lightly on her forehead.

After a few more minutes lying quietly together, Jasper heard a small intake of air from his wife and a short exclamation of surprise. Recognizing that she was having a vision, he held her closer and patiently waited until it was over before asking her what it was about.

"I think that you're going to get your chance to talk to Eleazar about Cassie. Tanya's coven is coming for a visit. They'll be here in the morning."

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"Why are they coming?"

"I'm not sure actually. Eleazar will want to speak with Carlise in private, but I can't see what about. Tanya and Kate are going to ask me to go dress shopping with them, probably just to get me out of the house, and Tanya comes back with new shoes. Esme will ask Carmen for her help with the curtains, and they manage to finish them this weekend. I can't see anything else about the visit."

"There's only one reason I can think of that Eleazar would want to see Carlise in private like that with you out of the house."

"I thought of that too, but the Volturi don't have any reason to come after us."

"Have you been watching them?"

"For a while after we changed Cassandra, but when there was no reaction from them, I stopped. It was giving me too much of a headache."

"Because of Renesmee?"

"No, this was something else."

"Can you try looking again? Now. I mean just to reassure me that that's not why Eleazar is coming to talk to Carlise? If it hurts too much, then stop and we'll deal with it when he gets here. But I need you to try." Jasper hated asking Alice to do something that he knew would hurt her, but this was just too important not to look into.

"I can try. Hold me." Alice said quietly and snuggled closer to her husband. She looked into the distance, unseeingly, focusing her attention on the Volturi. After a moment she shook her head and gave Jasper a pained expression. "It's all very sketchy, and I'm having trouble seeing them at all. I couldn't get anything substantial from them. And now the headache's back."

"Do you want my help with that?"

"No. You're right, with Eleazar coming and Cassie possibly being a mirror, I need to stay focused on the Volturi now. If they make a move, we need to know about it."

"Ok. Let me know if you change your mind."

"I will." After a short pause, "by the way, whatever dangerous thing it is that you and Edward plan to do, please wait until Tanya's group goes home. None of them deserve to be mixed up in our mess."

"I didn't know that Edward and I were planning anything dangerous."

"You will be. The scene keeps changing, but the words stay the same. You approach Edward and ask him if he's ready, he says it'll be dangerous, and you say that you don't care, it'll be worth it."

"Alice, I don't know what you're talking about, but I can promise you that I won't put anyone else in danger. You know as well as I do that I wouldn't. If it can wait until Tanya's gone, then it will."

"Where is Edward anyway? I haven't heard him and Bella for a little while." Alice asked unable to explain the dread she felt.

"I'll go find him. Now stop worrying before I have to make you stop. It's messing with my system."

"Ok, just find him." Alice said with a sigh.

Jasper reluctantly raised himself from his position on the bed and left to find his brother. He found Edward a short time later in the living room where he was setting up for a game of monopoly. Although, the couple still spent most of their time together at their private cottage, it wasn't uncommon to find them in the main house playing games, or simply spending time together. Bella had mentioned once how much she liked the feel of having her entire family nearby. _Monopoly, huh? Is that for you or for Bella? _He thought to his brother.

"Bella. She doesn't like chess." Edward answered aloud.

"Isn't it great that you finally have an opponent you can't cheat against?"  
"Yeah. It's great to finally not be accused of cheating."

"Ha, ha. Funny. Anyway, Alice just wanted me to find you and make sure you were ok, and that you weren't about to do something dangerous."

"Dangerous? Unless you consider me risking a perfect Monopoly winning steak dangerous, then, no, I'm not. Did she see something?"  
"Yeah, kind of. Tanya's coming tomorrow. With the full Denali clan. And Eleazar wants to talk to Carlise alone."

"Should that worry us?"

"I don't know. Alice hasn't been able to clearly see the Volturi for awhile now. Since just after Cassandra was changed."

"Oh, now, that can't be good."

"Look, we don't know anything for sure, yet." Jasper said aloud and silently added, _but be ready for anything, just in case. _Edward nodded his silent understanding and offered his brother and friend a weak smile. "Bella will be back soon. She went to see if anyone else wanted to play."

"I must have just missed her."

As if on cue, Bella came dancing down the stairs followed by Alice. "I told them we would join in." Alice announced. "Monopoly for two was never much fun anyway."

"I made her promise not to cheat." Bella added.

"Not that you can cheat at a game that is all chance and no skill…" Alice countered with a smile. She gave Jasper a meaningful look to let him know that she had already seen the future and knew that he would try to manipulate Edward's emotions to get him to sell Boardwalk to him for a dollar.

"What did you see?" Edward demanded when he caught Alice's look. His sister just smiled at him and started reciting the constitution in Greek to keep him from reading her mind. Unfortunately her actions were too slow and Edward caught just enough of her thoughts and turned toward Jasper with mock anger. "Maybe we should have your no cheating agreement in writing."

"Ok, ok, I won't cheat." Jasper said truthfully and watched Alice's subtle expression alter as her vision of his original plan faded.

The foursome spent the next couple hours playing the board game, and just when Edward's top hat token was about to win big, the game came to a sudden, screeching halt.

Oblivious to the monopoly game in the living room, Cassandra was busy stewing in her room next to Jasper and Alice's. It was really starting to bother her how Jasper continued to watch her every move despite her strengthening control. She had asked him about it once, and his only answer had been, "I watch you so closely because I care so much. I don't want you to have to live with the regret if you make a mistake." She could tell that he had been holding out on her, that there was another reason for his close monitoring of her actions, but she didn't know how to get it out of him, so she had simply retaliated with the same excuse she used for not messing up so far.

"I won't mess up, Jasper. I promised Alice, my Vampire Angel, that I wouldn't mess up, so I won't. If I do, then I'll be letting her down and I can't do that to her." But he had refused to relax even after her constant reassurances.

Now she was venting to the only other person in the house who could understand her, Renesmee. The youngest two Cullens had become quick friends and it was clear that it benefited both parties. Nessie had become much less rebellious, and Cassie had someone closer to her age who could understand her control issues. "I just don't get why Jasper doesn't trust me." She said, complaining to her cousin.

"For the same reason that he doesn't trust me." Renesmee explained. "He loves both of us, and he knows that if anything goes wrong, the Volturi could show up. And he wants to avoid that for our sake. So, he watches to make sure that we don't make a mistake, and thus won't get in trouble with the Volturi. I could show you if you'd like."

"How?" Cassie asked her cousin.

"Easy. I heard Dad and Aunt Alice talking about it earlier. About how much Jasper was doing without them knowing, or at least he thinks that it's without them knowing, but you know that's impossible."

"Ok. Show me." Cassie demanded and Nessie complied by placing her hand on the other girl's cheek. Instantly Cassie was mentally transported to some point in Nessie's past memories and saw Edward talking to her Vampire Angel. It was odd to actually hear them speaking aloud since they so often talked silently to each other in their minds.

"I'm worried about him, Edward, and I know he's picking up on it which just encourages more worry since he thinks I'm worried about something I saw about the Volturi. He's taken this preoccupation with the girls and protecting them from the Volturi to a whole new level and I don't like where it's going. I mean, I know it's because he's so fascinated with them like everyone is with vampire children, and it's his way of loving them, and his way of blocking Rosalie's jealously, and his way of dealing with his own guilt over his past and trying to redeem himself in some way. But he loves them so much it's turned into an obsession. And Cassie at least is starting to notice and is a little bothered by his hovering for lack of a better word. He's so worried about the girls and the Volturi…" Alice rambled on until Edward finally interrupted her.

"Slow down, Alice. Take a deep breath even if you don't need it."

"Ok, I'm better now. Thanks, Edward." Alice said more slowly this time after taking the prescribed breath. "So, what do I do about Jasper?"

"Nothing. As much as I hate it for Nessie and Cassie, it is a good idea to let him keep watching them. I love them too. Enough that I'm willing to let 'Big Brother' keep monitoring them to protect them from the Volturi."

"Stop it! That's enough!" Cassie shouted and reached up to forcefully pull Nessie's hand away.

"What is it?" The older girl asked innocently.

"Don't you get it? Jasper isn't protecting us by doing this. He's hindering us. And your dad is letting him. He's not protecting, he's inhibiting. How can we prove our control without the freedom to choose it for ourselves?"

"Whoa! Cassie, calm down! Please, Jasper and my dad are only doing this out of love. You saw that for yourself."

"Love, my foot!" Cassandra screamed loudly and threw the closest object she could reach across the room and watched as it shattered against the far wall, cracking the plaster in the process.

Every Cullen in the home came running at the loud crash in Cassie's room. The concern wasn't really for her physical safety since they knew she couldn't be hurt, but rather the concern was for the cause behind the crash.

"What is going in here?" Jasper demanded at the same moment Alice asked, "What happened?" and Bella asked, "What's wrong?"

Both girls started to talk at the same time until Edward held up a single hand asking for silence. "One at a time, please, and Nessie, if you'll please go first since your thoughts are more calm." As Edward spoke, Jasper swallowed up the myriad of emotions flooding the room and replaced it with a streaming clam.

"Cassie and I were just talking and we accidently knocked something over." Nessie started.

"That's a lie!" Every other Cullen, except Cassie, said at the same moment. "How about the truth, now, Cassandra?" Edward said turning to the other girl.

"Um…Would you believe that we were having a friendly wrestling game and accidently knocked something over that way?"

"No!" Everyone else, except Nessie, said at once. "Now, you girls have one more chance to tell the truth, or else you're both being punished and it's my turn to deliver. And that means no arms for a week." Edward spoke again.

"What? That's not fair." The two girls protested as one.

"Then you have one more chance to tell us what happened."

As Edward spoke, Alice had crossed the room to clean up the mess and assess the damage. "Cassandra, this is the ballerina statue I got you. How'd it break?"

"I threw it, ok? I lost my temper and threw it across the room. Now, if you'll all just excuse me, I need to get out of here."

"Oh, no, you don't. We have to talk about this," Edward said at the same time Jasper said, "I'll go with you." He could feel her anger and knew that it would probably be best to get her out of the house. "Sorry, Edward."

"No, that's ok." Edward said quickly.

"No, I want to be alone!" Cassie shouted.

At a quick head shake from Jasper, Alice straightened and plastered a smile on her face. She understood Jasper's message that Cassie shouldn't be alone right now. "How about if I go with you, Cassie?" She asked quietly.

"No, no, no! I'm going alone!" Before anyone could stop her, Cassie was out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door, running into the forest.

"I'll go after her." Jasper offered. "She can't be alone right now, and that little tantrum needs to be punished.

"What about discussed and then punished if and only if it's necessary?" Alice countered.

"Oh, it's necessary, all right." Jasper said more harshly than he meant to.

"Stop it!" Bella said stepping to the middle of the room. "Rose, Emmett, will you please take Nessie out of here, and find out if there's anything else you can get her to tell us, like why Cassie lost her temper. Carlise, Esme, will you please go after Cassie? But don't let her know you're there unless you have to. Is that ok with you three?" Bella asked looking between her husband and her brother and sister.

"Fine." The other three replied at once.

Rosalie reached a hand out to Nessie, "how about it? Let's go to the next room and you can tell us what happened. The truth. No more jokes."

"Ok." Nessie agreed, taking Rose's hand.

Carlise silently met Esme's gaze and took her small hand in his larger one before the two of them took off running after Cassie's scent.

"I should be the one going after Cassie." Jasper said with a defeated sigh as he plopped down on the edge of the bed.

"No, Bella's right. We need to take a minute to re-group and form a plan before we react." Alice protested.

"And I think that I should go with you." Edward continued.

"Fine. Have we re-grouped enough yet, Alice?"

"No. What are you going to say when you find her?" Alice asked logically.

"I'm going to find out why she broke that statue?"

"And then what?"

"I don't know. That's going to depend on her answer."

"Then, we should wait until Rose tells us what Nessie said, so you'll have some idea of what Cassie's going to say and can plan out an answer for her.

As if on cue, the next sound in the Cullen home was Rosalie's shrill voice. "Alice, Jasper, Bella, Edward, get in here now!"

"What is it?" The two couples asked in unison as they dashed into the next room, which happened to be Alice and Jasper's bedroom.

"Nessie, tell them what you just told me." Rosalie ordered the girl.

"Easy. Rose." Emmett cautioned from the corner.

Nessie's eyes darted rapidly around the room, and finally settled on Jasper. This would be difficult to tell him, and he needed the strongest possible connection to her when she spoke so that he would understand the full emotion behind the words that she was speaking. It would be so much easier if they would just let her show them, but her dad had made her promise not to use her ability unless she had to. He had insisted that most of the time words were better than memory pictures. "Ok. Cassie was mad because of Jasper. Because she thinks that he keeps watching us, not to help us, but to keep us from being able to make our own decision to have control. She thinks that he's just trying to make atonement for his own mistakes. And that he's ignoring the hindrance that he's placing on us."

"Honey, now you know, that's not true," Bella started and moved to take Rosalie's place at her daughter's side.

"Yeah, Jasper really is just looking out for you girls." Edward began as well.

Before Nessie had a chance to respond, Jasper had found his voice, and met Nessie's eyes with the same intensity with which he was meeting hers. His first words were in response to Bella and Edward's statements, but the second part was for Nessie alone, and he needed the half-vampire to know that. "She already knows that it's for their own good. That wasn't the point of what she was saying. Why do I feel pity coming from you, Nessie?"

"Because I do know. I know that it's for our own good, and I also know how hard it must be for you. That's why I pity you. I know it must hurt you to know that Cassie can't see that what you're doing is what you think is right and best for us. And I'm so sorry for my part in it, Uncle Jasper."

"Look, Nessie, there's really nothing for you to be sorry about here. You and I will talk about it later if we need to, after you talk to your parents. But for right now, it looks like this is my mess, and I need to go fix it. Try to stay out of trouble until I get back."

"Ok." Nessie promised with a small nod.

"Nessie!" Edward snapped at his daughter after reading her thoughts of being the one to show Cassie a certain conversation that she should not have been listening to in the first place. "You and I will be talking about eve's dropping later on, and since I was obviously a part of what set Cassie off, I should go help look for her as well."

"Fine, I assume that you'll explain what you mean about being part of it on the way. Are you ready to go?" Jasper asked Edward casually.

"Yeah. Are you ready? If what I what I read in Nessie's mind is any indication, this could be dangerous."

"I don't care if it is."

"Oh, Jasper." Alice called after her husband before he could leave the house.

"Sorry, Alice. We'll hurry back." He apologized misunderstanding her reason for calling him back.

Alice gave her husband a knowing smile and tapped a single finger against her temple before winking at him. "You don't care about dangerous, huh?"

"Oh." Jasper gasped as realization came over him. He had just fulfilled Alice's vision.

Cassie ran until she felt that she could stop without exploding. "It's not fair!" She screamed out to anyone and anything that would listen to her. "I can take care of myself. I do have control, I know I do." She continued to scream, and kicked a nearby stone, sending it far deeper into the forest. Ripping a tree up by the roots, she threw that as well. "What good is tearing up the forest going to do?" She lectured to herself, mimicking Jasper's voice in her head. "It's only going to make less room for the animals, and thus, a smaller population for us to hunt." She grunted to herself and threw herself down on the ground and buried her face in her hands. "Grr…why does he always have to be right? Get out, get out, get out!"

After several more minutes of mumbling to herself, Cassie became distracted by the absolutely most wonderful thing that she had ever smelled before. It was so pungent that her mouth instantly flooded with venom. Part of Cassie knew what was happening. An unsuspecting hiker or camper or perhaps simply someone lost in the woods had crossed her path. She silently cursed Jasper for not allowing her to be exposed to more human blood. This incredible smell was way too powerful for her to resist. Cassie's body began to act on instinct as she took off after the delicious scent. She ran as fast as she could toward the scrumptious meal that she knew awaited her just over the next hill. Part of her knew that it was wrong and that she should stop, but she couldn't. Her instinctual nature was just too strong.

The first glimpse she caught of the naive human was of his back. He was walking away from her, toward town. Cassie knew that she couldn't let him get away from her. She re-doubled her speed until she was in front of the human, cutting off his intended escape path. She crouched low and hissed at him. It didn't register with her then, but the man was old, and limping. He wouldn't have been the first choice in meals for an older, more experienced, more discriminating, vampire. But for Cassie, he was just the same as any other human, sweet, and rich, and warm. And hopefully not too metallic tasting. She hissed a second time, planning her attack on the man.

Carlos Domingo was in shock. He couldn't move, couldn't speak. He had heard about things like this in Mexico, but surely they didn't exist in the United States, the golden land of freedom for all. "Demonio!" He cried out at the female child in front of him. "Demonio!" For a demon she must be to act so fiercely towards him. Then Carlos Domingo knew no more as he felt a sharp knife like piercing in his neck, and looked up astonished to see the girl latched on to him, drinking his blood.

Cassie didn't understand what the man was saying. She wasn't sure if the man was even speaking to her in English, but she didn't care. All she wanted was his blood. She sprang forward, and planted her teeth deep into his neck, feeling the rush of warm red liquid in her mouth. She drank until she couldn't pull another drop from the now dry carcass. She fell back on the ground and looked up at the sky, almost giddy in her post-frenzy rush of feeding. Now, this was the good life. Oh, what she had been missing all this time because of the Cullen's stupid rules. Part of Cassie still realized that what she had done was wrong, but it was easy to suppress that part of her. Maybe she didn't want to be a Vampire Angel. Maybe the Vampire Angels were really the evil ones and she was the only one of the Cullens capable of fulfilling the real purpose of the Vampire Empire.

"Carlise!" Esme gasped when she saw Cassie jump up from her place on the forest floor and take off at a dead run. "She smelled it. We can't let her find him. She's so upset right now, she won't be able to control herself." Esme and Carlise had long since smelled the sweet aroma of human blood, but neither of them had been tempted by the scent. They had hoped that the child was too distracted by her anger to smell it herself, but unfortunately, they had been wrong.

"If we can catch her, let me be the one to approach her. There's no way to know how she'll react to being blocked from her prey." Carlise cautioned his wife as the two ran after Cassie. He didn't like this anymore than Esme, but realistically, catching the still newborn Cassie was going to be very difficult, and it would be even harder to stop her without getting injured themselves in the process. After thirty seconds of chasing the girl, Cassie had managed to outrun the pair by so much, that they could no longer see her. "Follow her scent." Carlise instructed, but knew that without being able to see Cassie, there was no way they could catch her in time. Tracking by smell took valuable seconds that they didn't have. Carlise's thoughts had turned from prevention to cleaning up the aftermath. Who was the human? Would they have to move? Could Cassie's indiscretion be hidden? How long would it be until the human was missed? How would Jasper and Alice deal with the emotional repercussions of Cassie's actions? Oh, how he wished that Cassie would simply be able to pull herself out of the instinctual chase in which she was engulfed.

"What's happening?" The voice approaching from the side belonged to Jasper. Carlise could also sense Edward running next to them. "You're both very panicked. And where's Cassie?"

"She outran us." Carlise admitted with a deep sigh, and slowed his run, defeated.

"What?" Jasper was overcome by the emotions coming from Carlise and was forced to slow his run as well. "She outran you? Please tell me that doesn't mean…?" He spoke slowly, and sniffed the air, only to discover that it was filled with the unmistakable scent of human blood. He was wounded at the idea of Cassie chasing after a human, but he had to maintain control if he was to find her in time.

"Yes. She smelled the human, Jasper. We couldn't catch her." Carlise answered Jasper's unfinished thoughts.

"No. I refuse to believe it. Maybe she stopped herself, and maybe there's still time. Edward!" Jasper was beside himself with worry and concern.

"I've got her scent. I'm on it." Edward was already ahead of what Jasper was going to say. But after reading Carlise and Esme's thoughts, he knew that there was little chance that he could stop Cassie, even if he did get to her before she got to the human.

Less than a minute later, to the group's horror, they all heard the shout of Cassie's victim. "That was Spanish." Esme commented aloud. It was the thought that everyone had. It was the one ray of hope in this awful mess. If Cassie's victim spoke Spanish, then there was a very good chance that he wasn't even in the United States legally, and thus wouldn't be missed, and even if he was, then it wouldn't be reported.

"There she is." Edward announced when he finally found Cassie. The others were still several yards behind him and couldn't see her yet.

"She's…happy…" Jasper said, bewildered, as he felt the emotions coming off his adopted daughter. "How…?"

"It's her instinct, son." Carlise said, placing a hand on Jasper's shoulder. "Don't be too hard on her. We'll leave you alone if you'd like."

Jasper nodded his head. _Edward, you should stick close. Just in case. _He added silently for just his bother to hear.

"Remember where you came from, son." Esme whispered quietly before taking Carlise's hand and running off with him.

"I'll stay out of sight unless you need me." Edward promised.

"Ok. Thank you." Jasper could just whisper and nodded his appreciation to Edward.

"Cassie." Jasper spoke quietly as he approached the girl. "I think you and I need to talk."

"What's there to talk about? And by the way, you are so wrong about human blood. That was the best meal I've ever had. Vampire Angel! What a joke! How could I have been so stupid!" The girl rolled her eyes to herself, but didn't move from her lounged position.

"Cassie." Jasper sat down next to her, and took a few unnecessary breaths, partly to figure out what he was going to say, and partly to calm down. This was killing him. Cassie's words backed by her even more honest emotions were like tiny waves of flame licking at him and burning him, eating him alive. It was painful to hear her say something like that and just as painful to feel her lack of regret. "Cassie, I was wrong." Jasper finally managed to find some words to say. "But not about what you think. I was wrong to keep hovering over you, and watching everything that you've been doing. I think that I pushed you into this. And for that, I'm sorry. I know that just a simple apology won't make up for everything that I've put you through, but it is a start. And I hope that someday, I'll be able to re-gain your respect."

Cassie rolled her eyes at Jasper, and blew out a lung full of air, releasing a growl at the same time. "You are so pathetic. As if I'm even going to let you have anything to do with how I choose to live my life now."

"Cassie. This has been a very long night. Let's go home and we can talk about this more in the morning." Jasper tried changing tactics. He didn't want to have to manipulate Cassie's emotions to get her to comply and go home with him, but he would if he had to.

"Forget it! I'm staying out here. I'm not going anywhere with you." Cassie stubbornly refused to budge.

Jasper sent a wave of compliance in Cassie's direction, followed by trust and obedience. "Let's go home." He repeated.

"This isn't fair!" Cassie shouted, knowing that she was powerless to stop the agreeableness flooding her emotions thanks to Jasper's intervention. "But I won't do it!" She screamed even louder. Unsure of exactly what she was doing, Cassie suddenly realized that she once more had control over her own emotions. And Jasper's influence was non-existent.

Jasper was shocked and was forced to take a few steps back when all of the manipulation that he was pushing onto Cassie suddenly came flying back at him like it had hit a brick wall. "Cassie, what was that?" He asked astonished.

"I…I…don't know." Apparently the sudden appearance of her ability was enough to throw her for a loop and knock her out of her rebellious attitude. "But…but…I don't care. It's none of your business anyways." She tried to recover her composure.

"Yes, it is my business. I can help you with this. I think that was an excellent display of your ability. I know that we haven't actually talked about it before because it usually takes much longer for an ability to surface, but I've been noticing the signs of one in you for some time now. I've seen something similar to this before. It's commonly called a mirror ability. I would really like to be able to explain it to you in more detail, but you're not in any kind of shape to handle that conversation right now. Mirror abilities are very powerful, but they are easy to control with practice. I want to help you with it. You're scared. I can feel it. Now, let's go home and we'll talk about this for as long as we need to. Please, Cassie, don't stay out here like this…scared." Jasper knew that it was a weak tactic, trying to capitalize on the sudden appearance of her ability to get her to go home with him.

"I'm not scared. That's a false positive." She tried to deny her own emotions. "I just…I need to feed again."

Jasper stepped into Cassandra's path, blocking her way into the town. "Ok, fine, there's a herd of deer over that way. Let's go eat, and then we can go home."

"No, not deer. Human." Cassie grinned in a way that Jasper could only describe as evil.

"Edward." Jasper whispered, knowing that both his brother and Cassie would hear the utterance.

"What?" The single name had surprised Cassie, thus slowing her reaction when Jasper reached for her and pulled her into a tight bear hug. "What are you doing? Didn't you just promise to let me have some freedom?" She demanded.

"Not if it means killing a human. You got lucky this time. He's probably an illegal alien, so no one will miss him. We'll burn the body, so there won't be any chance of it being discovered and questions being asked. But Alice and I may still have to answer to the wolves for this. And it won't help matters if I just let you go off to do more killing."

"Help me get her home, Edward, then come back with Emmett to take care of the mess." Jasper instructed his brother. Edward nodded once and took one of Cassie's arms so that the two of them could drag the struggling girl back to the Cullen home.

"What happened? Alice's been stuck in some kind of vision for half an hour now." Bella asked when the two men returned home with Cassie. She could smell the scent of a fresh human kill on the young girl's breath, and gasped as the realization struck her. "Please tell me that I don't smell what I think I do. Cassie?" Bella addressed the girl with a wondered expression.

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with your sense of smell. And for the record, it was delicious. In fact…" But Cassandra didn't finish her sentence, instead choosing to take advantage of the sudden relaxing of Jasper's hold when they neared the house and he heard about Alice's vision. She turned her head just enough to bite deeply into his forearm, tearing off a fairly sizable chunk just below his elbow.

On instinct, Jasper growled loudly, and re-tightened his grip on Cassandra to keep her from escaping. Thankfully, Edward had managed to hold onto her and she never got the chance to run. "Bella, can you pick that up and bring it with you, please? We're going to lock her in her room for a few hours to calm down. And a word of warning. It seems that the taste of human blood has accelerated the appearance of her ability, so don't try bringing her into your shield anytime soon unless you absolutely have to."

Bella didn't respond, but did as Jasper asked and picked up the chunk from Jasper's arm, before following the trio into the house.

"Want me to rip her arms off for you?" Edward asked as Jasper started to close the door to Cassandra's room.

Jasper seriously considered the option for a split second and glanced once at Cassandra before making his decision. "No. It won't be effective." He said simply, and reached for the piece of his arm in Bella's hand. "Thank you, Bella." They closed and locked the door from the outside and Edward listened to Emmett's thoughts as he bolted the window shut from outside as well. He had heard the plan when they had talked to Bella and knew that this was something that he could help with, even if he couldn't do much else.

"When you're done with that Emmett, I also need you for a quick errand." Edward told him aloud, and listened for a response. He didn't have to wait long before his brother's thoughts reached him. _Ah, yes, the evidence in the woods. I can smell it all over her. And Carlise mentioned it when he came back. Well, not exactly mentioned, so much as he had that look. I hate that look. Better tell Jasper not to hone into his emotions anytime soon. Then again, I bet the little empath already has enough guilt of his own, anyway. _Edward shook his head at the turn in Emmett's silent musings.

"We'll know if she tries to leave. It won't be a very silent escape. Carlise, Esme, Rosalie, meet Bella and I in the living room with Alice please." Jasper spoke like the military commander that he once was. He was trying to block the waves of painful emotions around him, and the only way to do that at this point was to return to his roots of coldhearted leadership. He had to get to Alice. He had only gotten a brief glimpse of her sitting on the edge of the couch, lost in a vision, as he had dragged Cassie up the stairs minutes ago.

Massaging his arm gently to help the process of regeneration as he put his body back together, Jasper finally reached Alice's side. He poured what amount of love and courage he could muster into his wife's body, attempting to pull her gently out of her vision. It had to be awful for her watching the uncertainty of the next several weeks unfold. He knew that his struggles with Cassie were only beginning, and he hated that his gentle Alice had to watch the entire thing on instant pre-play.

Jasper sighed as he felt Alice coming out of her vision. "Was there a lot of venom?" She asked sadly, and took over massaging his arm.

He didn't have to ask for clarification on what his wife meant. Instead he slowly nodded his head. "Yeah. It's going to leave a pretty bad mark. But I'm not worried about that. We have more important things to talk about. Like what we're going to do about that daughter of yours."

"It would be easier if you made up your mind." Alice teased him.

"Sorry." He said lightly. "Have you gotten anything?"

She shook her head. "No. Nothing. It was so clear before, but now..." She shook her head again in frustration.

"I know this is going to sound crazy, and it probably won't make much sense to you, but try just focusing on my part of the next several weeks. Cassie just confirmed my suspicion that she has a mirror ability. So, if you try to see her future, it'll just get reflected back to you, creating a distortion."

"I see. Why didn't you tell me about this sooner? It would have explained so much." She pretended to be hurt.

"Like I told you earlier, I wasn't sure. That is, until a few minutes ago when she resisted complying. I've only ran across something like that a few times before. It's kind of freaky to be shocked with distorted compliance."

"I saw your reaction. Is there any way to override it?"

"No. Not with my ability anyway. In fact, I can only think of two vampires who could get past it. Aro and Alec. Aro because his ability works with contact, and the closer you are to a mirror, the less distortion there is, and Alec because he has a dark ability, and darkness doesn't reflect."

"So, in my case, since the future is very distant, if I try to see Cassie, it'll be very distorted."

"Exactly. And that's also why you sometimes only get black when you try to see her, and not the blur you do with Nessie and the wolves. It's so distant that your future vision misses the reflection entirely."

"I hate to interrupt this very intriguing conversation, and I do hope that the two of you return to it sometime. I have a few questions of my own, but I believe that there is a more pressing matter right now." Carlise began. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, away from the couple on the couch to give them some privacy, but close enough to join in the conversation. "What time are we expecting Tanya's clan to arrive?" He directed the question at Alice.

"A little after 6 am." Alice answered, zoning out to double check. "Eleazar's been thinking a lot about what he's going to say to you, Carlise. He knows that he has to get the wording just right, and wasn't comfortable doing so without planning ahead even knowing that I would be able to see the whole thing. I think that you need to seriously listen his concerns, Carlise. It makes sense given what I can't see of the Volturi's decisions at the moment. He has an idea on how to fix it too, but refuses to decide to tell you about it, until he's here."

"Well, what is it, Alice? It must be really important. A personal visit, and all that." Jasper prompted.

"No. I can't say. Please, trust me on this, Jazz. Carlise needs to hear it first, and then be the one to tell the rest of us. If I'm missing anything that Eleazar hasn't decided to tell us yet, then I could really mess it up for everyone. Do not push me to tell you, Jasper Whitlock."

"I trust you with all my heart, with all that I am, and if you say I shouldn't know yet, then I believe you."

"Did you say 6 am, Alice? That only leaves me two hours to finish cleaning the house." Esme said as a way of busting the moment between the two. "Will you please help me?"

"Sure. And Rosalie will too. Jasper, you have 90 minutes to convince our little Cassandra to behave while we have company, otherwise I will, and it will probably involve Edward ripping her arms off. But either way, it needs to be resolved before Tanya arrives. I know that you wanted a little more time with it. But that just isn't going to happen. And Bella, don't worry about going to talk to Nessie again. It won't be necessary. Jasper doesn't even have to talk to her anymore, at least not about everything that's happened tonight. She really gets it this time. I saw you and Edward talking about how proud you were of her."

"I still think that I need to say something else to her." Jasper started to protest.

"No, you don't. I promise. I hate to bring it up, but you never had to say anything else to Bella after the birthday incident. This is the same type of thing. Nothing else can be said to help Nessie, she's gotten there all on her own. Just like Bella did."

"Like mother, like daughter." Bella summed.

"Exactly." Alice quickly agreed before grabbing Rose with one hand and Esme with the other and taking off.

"Hey, Bella, if you aren't busy, can I get your help with something?" Jasper asked, slowly, and a little shyly.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can you listen in on me and Cassie and back me up if I need it? I would have normally asked Edward, but he's not back yet, and…"

"Tick, tock, Jasper. The answer's yes, now just get on with it." Alice shouted from upstairs.

Jasper and Bella laughed shortly, and the two ran up the stairs, the first disappearing into Cassandra's room and the second to her room just down the hall to listen in.

"Unless you're here to tell me that it's ok for me to leave and make it on my own without you losers hanging around, then go away." Cassandra sassed without turning around from where she sat staring at the wall.

Jasper swallowed to keep the girl's anger from penetrating too deeply. Planting himself against the wall to her back, Jasper crossed his arms in what he hoped was a casual pose. "That's not why I'm here, and I'm not going away." He raised his eyebrows slightly at the responding curse that slipped from Cassie's lips, but continued. "I want to tell you a story, Cassie." He paused, but there was only silence so he continued once more. "When Alice first mentioned changing you, I was against it. You were too young, and it would have only ended badly. She fought for you. Said you would be fine, that were mature for your age. We had one of the worst arguments of our life together. The only other one that comes close was the one we had about Bella. I'm really glad that she won that one. I can't imagine this family without Bella now. But I'm even happier that she won the one about you. Cassie, you have such amazing potential, and I don't think that I want to know what this family would be like without you. You fit in perfectly, and I don't want that feeling of wholeness to fall apart or blow up in our faces. I'm trying really hard not to compare you to Bella because I know that it's not the same. Every newborn is different. I know that better than most. But there's also a lot more that I know thanks to my experiences. And one of those things is that support helps. I've done everything that I can to support you during the past few months. But I don't think that it's been enough, or at least not the right kind of support. I've failed in my duty to you as your trainer, as your surrogate father, and as your friend. If I was still under Maria's control, she would have the right to destroy me, and justly so. If you're unhappy, then I haven't been doing my job. And actually, that's part of the problem. I'm looking at this like a job. A duty. I'm not looking at this in the way that I should be. I should be looking at this like something that I just do, not because I have to, or because it's expected of me, but because I want to. And when someone wants to do something for someone else, like I do for you, then they should treat it like a partnership with that other person. Not like a master-teacher to servant-student. I think you can understand that difference, and if you honestly look at everything that's happened today, then I think you'll understand that's the real reason behind it. You didn't mess up today, Cassie. I did. And not because of what I've been doing, but because of how I've been doing it. And again, I know that you're smart enough to understand the difference. So, this is what I purpose, let's start over. Let's make this a partnership. Will that be ok with you?" Cassie didn't respond, but Jasper felt that she was still listening to him and following what he was saying. "So, first order of business in this new partnership is for me to stop talking. It's your turn now. Talk to me, Cassie. Tell me what you're thinking. How can I help make this training easier for you? What do you need me to do?"

Cassie took a deep unnecessary breath and slowly turned her head to face Jasper. If she could cry, she would have rivers of hot tears running down her cheeks. "What am I thinking? I'm thinking that you are so much better than me. It would have been so easy for you to come in here and rip my arms off, and tell me to shape up because I was hurting Alice and you with what I was doing. It would have been so easy, but you didn't do it. You didn't take the easy road. Nessie was right. Argh, I hate that." She shook her head in frustration. "All I can think about right now is human blood. It was so good. But it's like eating half of an ice cream bar. I can remember that from when I was human. I never could just eat half. I got a taste for it, and had to finish the entire thing. Does this ever go away? Will I ever be satisfied now? Now that I know what it tastes like?"

Jasper fought the urge to rush to Cassandra's side and bring her into a comforting hug. "No, you won't ever be fully satisfied. It'll always burn, every time you're around it. You'll always be hungry. But it does get easier to control, easier to handle. Think about it like those strong men you've watched on TV. Every single one of them starts to pant, run out of breath, sweat, groan with the effort of what they're doing, but they do it. And every time they complete an event, it gets easier for them. Experience, practice, that's what enables them to keep on going, to keep competing despite the effort. It'll get easier, I promise."

"I hope you can keep that promise. Can we go hunting now, please? Preferably for carnivores."

"Sure. I'll rip the bars off your windows, and meet you in the backyard."

"Thanks, Jasper. And I'm sorry for biting you, but I was just so angry, and I didn't know how else to release that anger. Oh, and one more thing, and I'm only going to say this once, so listen closely. Today, that man, it was my fault, my mistake, not yours. So, please don't feel guilty about any of it." Cassie didn't wait for a response, instead taking off in a dead run for the backyard to wait for Jasper. She could hear Edward and Emmett entering through the front door after taking care of the evidence of her mistake. They exchanged a few hurried words with Alice who was back in the Cullen living room watching for the arrival of the Denali coven. Apparently Rosalie and Esme had all of the cleaning under control.

"Let's go." Jasper said coming into the backyard moments after Cassandra arrived. "I have a lot more stories to tell you while we hunt."


	10. Meet Winston

**Author's Note: I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. I had a really hard time getting this chapter just right, and I'm still not 100% happy with it, so any feedback will be especially appreciated. Love it or hate it, let me know, but be constructive in your comments. How can I make it better? And as always, I will be more than happy to provide further clarification if and where it's needed. If you see any glaring mistakes, please let me know, and I will fix it. **

**The book that Bella mentions in this chapter is _The Hero with a Thousand Faces_ by Joseph Campbell, published in 1949. It would have still been considered brand new at the time Carlise gave it to Jasper, a very treasured gift for the avid reader we all know our favorite Major to be.**

**Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it belongs to Stephenie Meyers. Enough said.**

* * *

The house was spotless. All of her children and grandchildren were accounted for and doing well, or at least as well as possible. According to Alice, Tanya and the other Denalis were only minutes away, and Esme was anxious to play hostess. Hearing Carlise approach from across his study, she gave her husband a warm smile. "I'm so proud of Jasper right now. He handled the mess with Cassandra last night exceptionally well." Her maternal pride was obvious in the way she spoke.

"Yes. I think they've both learned some valuable lessons. Let's just hope that this hunt goes as well." Carlise added his own approval, laced with a word of caution. "On a different subject," he began and grinned slyly at his mate, "We still have some time to spare before our guests arrive."

"Carlise! We don't have that long!" Esme gasped with a short laugh, guessing what was to come seconds before Carlise leaned in to kiss her lips.

_Tanya will arrive at any moment now, and she's going to have all of the Denalis with her. So whatever it is you and Bella are doing over there in that cottage of yours, knock it off and get back over here. Now. _Alice kept trying to reach Edward with her thoughts, but she could tell that he was ignoring her from the lack of a response and her continued vision of Edward missing the Denali's arrival. Since Jasper and Cassie weren't going to be there to greet their guests, it was only right that Edward and Bella make more of an effort to show up in time. Or at least that's what she thought.

Surprisingly unknown to Alice, Nessie had fallen into a merciful sleep at some point between the incident with Cassie and the broken ballerina and Edward and Emmett returning from cleaning up the mess that the newest Cullen had created. And Edward and Bella needed this moment with their peacefully sleeping daughter to remind themselves of what it meant to be a family and to be parents responsible for another life.

"Hey Edward, can I ask you something?" Bella asked quietly as the two of them sat close together watching their daughter sleep.

"You can ask me anything, you know that." Edward whispered back to Bella.

"Well, it's just that Jasper gave me this book about mythology and how similar myths are seen in virtually every culture and every society that has ever existed. The exact versions of the myths differ of course, but the basic premises are the same. Jasper said that the book was the first gift that Carlise ever gave to him when he and Alice joined the family, and that he had enjoyed it and thought that I would like it as well. Anyway, I was trying to figure out where we fit into all of it. Common mythology, I mean. For example, in the flood myth. If vampires were created with or evolved along side of humans, then how did they survive the flood that's so critical a part of all these mythologies?"

Edward laughed shortly at his darling wife. How soon she forgot the sort of creature that she had chosen to become. He remembered the book that she was talking about very well. It was one of the things that he and Jasper had bonded over during that first year he and Alice had lived with the Cullens. It had sparked many conversations like this one between the two adopted brothers and their surrogate father. "My dear, Bella, as much as Carlise and Jasper would love you for asking that question and opening the door for a religious versus cultural and historical significance debate, there is actually a very simple solution to how vampires survived the Great Flood, if indeed there was one."

"You can't tell me that Noah invited them onto the ark."

Edward laughed again, this time a bit louder than before. "No, Bella, if that were the case, then there wouldn't have been anything left alive from which to re-start the Earth's population. But you seem to be forgetting something very important here. We don't have to breathe, and we have almost endless patience. I imagine that vampires survived by holding their breath. We're also excellent swimmers, so some could have simply swam alongside the ark. Water can't kill us, after all. The whole not eating thing for 40 days would have been difficult, but clearly they managed to adapt and didn't eat Noah as soon as he stepped out on to dry land. They would have had to have waited at least two or possibly three generations before allowing themselves to feed. I'm sure that by that point they knew that once they started eating, they wouldn't be able to stop anytime soon. It's kind of ironic, really. It would have taken immense control to survive and not feed for that long, more than even you or Carlise possess. It would have been so difficult, that I can't even fathom it."

"So, that's it, then? They held their breath and starved themselves for a couple generations? It seems so simple."

"Yes, well, we can be simple if given the chance." Bella laughed at her husband's joke and leaned in to kiss him. "And thus ends yet another philosophical discussion." He mumbled as he returned her kiss.

"Just promise me you'll find the time to tell me everything that there is to know about mythology and other not fully human creatures of the world."

"Promise." Edward mumbled between kisses.

Unfortunately, that was as far as things progressed thanks to an untimely interruption courtesy of Alice's thoughts that were practically screaming in Edward's head. _Two minute warning, Edward! And I can promise you that if you miss this, you will live to regret it, and I'm talking an entire new wardrobe of custom fitted designer clothing. That means at least three days of doing nothing but standing still while a French speaking, bald guy takes all of your measurements and then pins scraps of cloth to you…_

"As much as I would like to finish this, Love, the Denali's are only two minutes away, and according to Alice we'll regret it if we aren't at the main house by the time they arrive." Edward whispered as he stole one last kiss.

"Edward…" Bella started hesitantly.

"What is it, Love?" He asked calmly as he offered his wife his hand to help her stand.

Bella accepted the hand with a genuine smile. "Has Alice seen anything else to indicate why they're here? Maybe Eleazar has been in contact with the Volturi, and…" She looked uncertainly over at their sleeping, precious baby girl.

Edward's eyes grew wide at Bella's implied question. "Stop that!" He ordered. "Alice would know if it was something like that."

"But what if…maybe…?"

"Hush. Banish those thoughts from your mind right now. Nothing like that is happening here. Nessie, our daughter, is safe. The Volturi aren't going to get anywhere close to her."

"But Aro…"

"Bella."

"But…"

"Bella! Enough already. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, of course."

"Good. Then trust me that nothing like that is going to happen, ever. Ok?"

"Ok." She finally said with a sigh. "I'll wake Nessie and meet you at the main house in twenty seconds."

"Alright, I'll see you there."

"They're here," Alice called out to the rest of the family shortly after sending the silent threat to Edward. Carlise was the first to appear from upstairs, followed by Esme, then Rosalie and Emmett, right as the prodigal couple, and their tired eyed child came through the back door.

"Jasper's still out with Cassandra." Carlise said as he looked around his family.

It wasn't really a question, but Alice felt the need to answer anyway. "Yes. They'll be gone most of the day. Jasper decided to work with her on her ability. After last night…well

…you know."

All eyes turned toward the front door at the sound of five vampires approaching. "You may come on in, Eleazar." Carlise spoke through the still closed door, knowing that his friend would have no trouble hearing him.

"I can see that we were expected." Eleazar chuckled as he led the Denali clan through the front door of the Cullen home.

"Only since last night. You must have been very indecisive with your choice to come see us." Alice corrected.

"And you're blocking me now." Edward added with a serious look.

"Oh, come now, there will be plenty of time for business later." The oldest Denali protested, feeling as if he were on trial. And perhaps he was. He didn't often visit just for the fun of it. And this visit did come with a hidden reason, but that was something that he dared not dwell on with both Edward and Alice so close and so focused on him. He needed to discuss matters with Carlise first, before bringing the rest of the Cullens into it. And he counted on his own clan members to help him distract the other Cullens long enough for him to do just that.

"You must forgive my children. They're just a bit anxious with Cassandra still so new to our world and the continued controversy regarding Renesmee." Carlise interjected on behalf of his family while reaching out to embrace his dear friend. Eleazar accepted the embrace with a grin, thus beginning a round of hugs, shoulder punches, and cheek kisses exchanged between the two clans.

"Oh, Carmen, you must see my new curtains. Rosalie, will you join us?" Esme gushed excitedly, leading the way for the two clans to break-up into smaller groups until at last only Carlise and Eleazar were left in the family room.

"I suspect that Alice foresaw this as well…" Eleazar mumbled to himself.

"She told me that there was something very important that you wished to discuss with me. She claims never to have seen any of the details, but I'm not sure that I believe her. I suspect that she saw quite a bit of what you're about to say, but she shared none of it. I hope that it's nothing too awful…" Carlise trailed off.

"I will be honest with you. It's pretty bad, old friend. And if Alice has already seen it, then it will only make this that much more difficult." Eleazar admitted.

"Perhaps we should go to my office."

"Yes, that would be good."

Carlise motioned for Eleazar to take a seat across the large oak desk from him as the two men entered his home office.

"Thank you. Now how are _you_ doing, my dear friend? I hope that Cassandra is getting along well and adjusting easily. I regret that I haven't been able to visit before now. When you told me what you were considering, I must admit that I wished I could have been here for it, but unfortunately I was called away about that time."

"You're avoiding the subject. But no matter. Cassandra is doing well for the most part. It hasn't been nearly as bad as it could have been. Even so, there have been a few rough patches, but Jasper and Alice are handling the situation extremely well. Tonight was…difficult. She killed a human, an illegal immigrant, if the evidence that Edward and Emmett described when they returned from cleaning up the body is any indication. It forced Jasper to take her out of the house for a day of father-daughter hunting."

"That would explain his absence earlier."

"Yes. And you might also be interested to know that Jasper believes Cassandra possesses some sort of mirror ability. We don't know the full extent of it yet, but apparently he witnessed a rather impressive display of it after her…slip earlier."

"I'm not surprised that she has begun to display an ability. In fact, I would be surprised if she didn't have one. She is a Cullen after all. I just wish she weren't so young. Otherwise, I would be thrilled with the revelation that she's a mirror and it would change everything that I'm about to tell you. But unfortunately, as a newborn, she won't be any help in this situation, mirror or not."

"Perhaps, you should explain."

"Very well." Eleazar took a deep breath and began the long account of why he had chosen now to visit the Cullens. "As you know the Volturi still consult with me from time to time about certain newborns, who they believe to be especially gifted. They took advantage of this recently, and I was called to Volterra to attempt to define a rather unique vampire's ability. He's new to the guard, but has shown immense promise. He's what I would call a magnet. I…I misjudged him at first. He's far more powerful than I gave him credit for at the time. Magnet abilities come in all types, and his so far advanced, it's frightening. And ordinarily, I would never be bringing something like this to your attention, but I fear that your clan may be in danger. You see, he attracts, or more accurately steals, other abilities, and he's able to manipulate them for his own uses. As an example, if he were within proximity to Kate, he would be able to attract her ability to himself, and shock anyone he could touch with just as much force as Kate herself would be able to. He could further manipulate Kate's ability to the point that she wouldn't even be able to shock a common house fly. When he left her, Kate would still retain her ability, but she would be noticeably weaker for some time. Once he comes into contact with an ability, he retains it. He can recall it and use it at any time he chooses. And the next time he crosses paths with the vampire he stole it from, it will be easier for him to manipulate them. Since I left Volterra, he has acquired Demetri's tracking ability and learned to use it in conjunction with his own magnet ability. He no longer has to be in proximity to another vampire to steal and manipulate their ability. He has made no secret of finding gifted vampires around the globe and stealing more talents than we can catalogue in one sitting. You can see why I think this ability is so dangerous to you and your family. It's only a matter of time before Aro commands him to attack, for lack of a better term, your clan. He'll start with Edward, and then Alice, and then Jasper. And the instant that Bella lets down her shield, he'll attack her as well. I'm not even certain that Nessie will be safe from his magnetic attraction. The good news is that he probably won't be able to steal Cassandra's ability. For one thing, Demetri has never met her, and therefore, he and by proxy, this new vampire won't be able to track her. For another, Cassie's mirror will simple reflect the magnet back, like solar rays off a glass surface, there will be nothing for it to attract but a distorted reflection. And reflections cannot be captured. But all of that is thought for a different time. I fear I must warn you that this magnet ability also enables him to be a grand torturer. There are countless ways in which he can manipulate another vampire's ability. So much so, that the one who possess the ability can no longer trust it. He could trick Demetri into thinking that he had located someone, he truly had not found. He can fool Alec into blinding the senses of the brothers instead of the guard member who was attacking them. And similarly, trick Jane into torturing the brothers instead of the attacker. I can only imagine what he could do to Edward and Alice. Aro will stop at nothing to ensure that they someday join the guard."

"Why would the brothers allow the kind of actions you've described? Surely they see the danger in this newborn." Carlise protested.

"Oh, they see it alright. And as long as he remains loyal to the Volturri, he will allowed to thrive. They could always justify the unintentional torture of your family as testing the range of his abilities. You said yourself that they tried a similar test when human Bella went to Volterra to retrieve Edward not long ago."

"Yes, they did." Carlise admitted sadly, remembering what Alice and Edward had told him about Aro and Jane's attempts at using their abilities on Bella. "What do you suggest we do? You would not have come all this way, and told me all of this without having some kind of plan in mind to stop this newborn threat."

"Well, I do have a theory. But it's complicated. As I stated earlier, he'll likely try to lash out at Edward or possibly Alice first. He'll be able to use Demetri's ability to tap into either of their unique mental imprints. After he's latched on to one of them, he'll be able to make Alice see false visions or make Edward hear false thoughts. The challenge is how to get whichever one of them he attacks free from his control. Bella should be able to use her shield to protect them, but only after his influence on their abilities has been neutralized. It'll take some work, but with enough practice, Alice and Edward should be able to learn certain signs that will alert them to the fact that their abilities are being manipulated. Then they can isolate that manipulation, and allow Bella to shield only that which is un-manipulated. Jasper will be able to help as well, he can keep everyone calm throughout the process, and that calm may just be the key to success. I know this is a difficult decision for you, and what I'm suggesting will be extremely difficult, and perhaps even a little dangerous, but it is the only way to protect your clan."

"This is all very overwhelming." Carlise said slowly, trying to process everything.

"I know. But it will be better if we can make some definitive decisions on how to proceed. It will help Alice to be better able to alert us if something won't work as we intend it to work."

"How do we know Alice will be able to see anything at all? If what you say about this newborn is correct, then she may become essentially blind when Aro orders an attack against her. And more importantly, how do we know that your perception of how strong he is isn't being manipulated?"

"Aro ordered him not to manipulate me while I was there. He wanted an honest and impartial assessment. But rather or not he followed orders, we don't know. But consider, perhaps he didn't see any value in my ability. He made several comments to that effect. That my ability was so weak it wasn't even worth his time and effort to steal it. I never mentioned my plans to voyage here to the brothers, so they would have had no reason to try and trick me into believing anything other than the truth."

"You do know, friend, that I can't be asked to make this kind of decision for the others."

"I do realize that. I only ask your permission to speak with them as honestly as I have with you."

"You have my permission." Carlise granted, meeting his friend's eyes. As if on cue, there was a loud knock on the office door. "Do I even have to ask who it is? You may enter." Carlise said with a serious chuckle.

It didn't take long for Jasper and Cassie to come across a pair of bobcats by the river and even less time for each of them to drain one. Jasper hadn't even realized that he was thirsty, but apparently the drama of the last few hours had taken its toll on him. "Feeling better now?" he asked, watching the girl closely.

"Yes. I think I am a little better." Cassie admitted slowly. "And I'm sorry again for everything."

"I've been there, Cassie. I know, and it's ok. We're expecting guests today, but I think that we can spare a few hours for training just the same. And I was thinking that we could concentrate on that little surprise ability of yours. It'll give you something to focus on besides your thirst. What do you think?"

Cassie smiled and nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea! I've had enough of the other stuff you call training, and I am kind of excited that I finally have an ability like you and Alice."

"Yes, I imagine that you are. Now the trick to developing an ability once you discover it is to take it one aspect at a time. So, let's start with the range of your reflection capabilities. For instance, can you reflect everything at all times or is there a limit to the type of things you can reflect or when you can reflect things? It's likely that most of your reflection occurs on an unconscious level, so we'll also have to work to see how much conscious control you can exercise."

"Ok. How do we do that? It's not like I really know how I did it before."

"Well, before, it resulted from you being emotionally charged. Sometimes an ability like yours can get carried away and explode during times of extreme emotions, and that means you have a lot less control over it during those times. So, I think that we should stay clear of trying to re-create that. Instead, let's take a different approach. I have a theory that you should be able to control your ability in the same way that the person you're reflecting controls their ability. So, if you're reflecting me, you just concentrate on replicating and sending out whatever emotion I'm making you feel. I like to picture it as a cannon. Take the emotion, and form it into a cannon ball, then load the cannon and point it in my direction and fire. You ready to try it?"

"I'm ready." Cassie said with a cheesy grin.

"Good, I'll start with something easy. Calm. Feel it yet?"

"Yeah." Cassie said and scrunched up her face in concentration. "I don't think I can package it like you said, though. It's like the calm itself is keeping me from concentrating enough."

"Alright, that's fine. Probably, even to be expected." Jasper said patiently. "Let's try something a little more charged. Happiness."

"Oh." Cassie said, surprised, as a wave of joy swept over her. "I think I can work with this." She scrunched up her face again in concentration, causing a small laugh to escape Jasper at how cute it made the girl he loved as a daughter look. "There." She finally breathed. "Did I do it?"

Jasper took a step back as he felt the happiness overtake him. "Oh, yes, you did it all right. Try to keep it going." Jasper said as he tilted his head to the side and sent a fresh wave of emotion to Cassie. After a few minutes, he asked, "Are you getting any of this? Feeling anything that I'm sending you?"

"It's hard to describe. But no, I don't think so. It's like I absorb it, and as soon as I send it back, it's gone." She shook her head easily.

"Hmm…." Jasper thought to himself for a minute and then without warning changed the emotion that he was sending to Cassie to anger.

Cassie gasped at the sudden overwhelming madness, but after a few seconds, she felt it leave her and head back to Jasper.

He wasn't surprised that Cassie had been able to reflect the new emotion back to him, but he couldn't suppress the growl that came as a natural reaction to the anger as it came back to him like someone punching him in the gut. He immediately cut off the stream of emotion that he was sending to Cassie, leaving both of them drained from the effort of treating their abilities like polar opposite magnets.

"I think that will do for the day." Jasper finally said. "We've learned some important things that we can use in future training."

"Yeah. I'm exhausted after that. Let's go home and see our cousins. Do you think they'll like me?"

"I'm sure that they will." He said with a smile.

Back at the Cullen home, Jasper watched as Cassandra ran up the stairs to her room. He could hear Nessie intercepting her in the hall, and asking if she was ok. He smiled with fatherly pride at Cassie's reassurances and subsequent apology to her best friend.

"So, uh…what's going on here?" He asked, noticing the group in the living room for the first time. Within seconds, Jasper was handed a video game remote and ordered to pick a character and partner with Edward against Emmett and Garrett in a battle of wits and reflexes.

True to Alice's vision, Tanya and Kate had insisted on taking her on a shopping spree in Port Angeles, stating that Forks just didn't have enough variety, but even out of town, it didn't take long for the trio to grow restless and uneasy with each other. They were all thinking the same thing, that whatever Carlise and Eleazar were talking about, it would change everything for the extended family of Cullens and Denalis.

"Ok, Tanya, Kate, I get it. This whole shopping trip was just to get me out of the house while Eleazar talked to Carlise. But the game's over now. Neither of you are really into this whole shopping experience anyway, and I just saw that Eleazar and Carlise are going to want to talk to the rest of us very soon. I think it's time to go home. Oh, and I need to call Jazz on the way." Alice announced as they were coming out of the fifth shop they had visited and Tanya was still the only one to buy anything. The other two women quickly agreed with Alice's decision and they turned around to head back to the car. Alice pulled out a small silver colored cell phone, and dialed Jasper's number from memory as they walked.

"Hello, Alice." Jasper's deep voice greeted her on the other end of the line.

"We're on our way back now. Has Carlise called for us yet? Oh, no, he hasn't. But he will be soon." Alice babbled in her usual happy way, able to answer her own questions before Jasper could.

Jasper smiled to himself as he listened to his wife's easy sing-song voice. "Any hints on the big secret yet? Carlise turned on the radio, and Eleazar's practically whispering, so there's no chance for me to listen in. Not to mention that Edward, Emmett, and Garrett kidnapped me to be the 4th in an energetic Wii battle royale."

"Sorry, no, no hints. I probably won't see anything until just seconds before they tell us."

Jasper could hear the lie in his wife's voice, but knew that she must have a good reason for not telling him what she saw. "It's ok, darling. It's probably best that we all find out everything at the same time."

"It's little worrisome, actually."

Jasper could hear the distress and double meaning in his love's voice and wished for nothing more than to be able to give her a big hug and tell her that it would be ok. "Well, try to think about something else, like maybe us getting away for the weekend."

"Jazzy, this weekend is a big blur, I don't think it'll be a good chance for us to get away no matter how much we want to. I think we might have only a small window of alone time, and even then it doesn't look like it'll be much fun. Whatever our fearless leaders have to tell us is going to interrupt everything."

"I'm not going to let it interrupt us, Alice. I promise. Cassie and I had a little talk after our hunt and I think that she's past the worst of her newborn phase. She's ready to be away from us for a couple of days and I plan to take full advantage of the situation."

"From the flashes I'm getting now, it looks like it's me ruining our alone time, not you. I know you'll make every effort to let us enjoy some time away from the family, but it's not going to happen. There's something…" Alice started, but her voice trailed off.

"What's going on, Alice? What do I need to know about this weekend? Whatever it is, I'm here."

"No, not now…" she continued cryptically. She didn't want Jasper to worry about anything, so she quickly changed the subject, and the new vision that filled her mind gave her just that opportunity. "Oh, Jazz, I'm so proud of you!" She cried excitedly.

"Where did that come from? And more importantly, why? I know I haven't done anything recently to make you say that, so what will I be doing?" Jasper smirked at her enthusiasm.

"You'll find out soon enough, naturally, but it's something that we've both been waiting a long time for."

"Tell me, Alice, please."

"Oh, no fair. You know I can't resist that tone. I can tell you officially now that you've conquered your bloodlust."

"Are you sure? How do you know?" Jasper's apprehension was hard to miss.

"Oh, I shouldn't have said anything. Just know that it's going to happen, Jazz, soon. You'll prove to everyone just how far you've come, and that even the most blood crazed vamp can become a vegetarian once and for all."

"Alright, I trust you. I love you. See you soon."

"37 and a half minutes and counting. Love ya." A smile crossed Alice's face as she closed the silver cell phone.

Exactly 37 minutes and 26 seconds later, Alice met Jasper, Edward, and Bella in front of the door to Carlise's office. They arrived just in time to hear the last few words exchanged between the two men.

"You do know, friend, that I can't be asked to make this kind of decision for the others." Carlise was saying.

"I do realize that. I only ask your permission to speak with them as honestly as I have with you." Eleazar responded.

"You have my permission." Carlise granted.

At these final words, Edward took the initiative and knocked loudly on the office door.

"Do I even have to ask who it is? You may enter." They heard Carlise say with a serious chuckle. As the four children entered his office, Carlise turned back to Eleazar. "By the way, what's his name?"

"Winston. His name is Winston."


	11. Thus the Battles Begin

**Author's Notes: Thank you so much to SGSVamp who pointed out my misspelling of "Carlisle". I have corrected it for this chapter as well as in my permanent copy of the fic, so that it will be corrected throughout when I edit previously posted chapters.**

**In this chapter, Scandinavia refers to the collective cultural region of Norway, Sweeden, and Denmark, and Grimstad is a real city in Norway. **

**Comments and criticisms are always welcome, and I do take each and every one of them seriously. I only ask that you are constructive with your comments. Do you like it or not and why or why not? And did I mention that beginnig with this chapter, if you sign your comment, I'll send you a very short Jasper drabble unrelated to TFWW, but interesting none the less? Thank you in advance.**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, themes and locations are the property of the amazing Stephenie Meyer. Everything else is mine.**

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"Winston. His name is Winston." Eleazar was telling Carlisle just as Edward, Bella, Alice and Jasper were entering the now seemingly small office.

"Alice said you would be looking for us. She even came home from shopping early for it, so I know it's important despite the fact that all I'm getting from her are the complete works Edgar Allen Poe in German. Are we too early? And who's Winston?" Edward looked between the two men as he spoke.

"As a matter of fact, you're just in time." Carlisle admitted. "I wouldn't expect anything less with Alice on the job."

"Perhaps we should move into the living room. I've decided that I don't want to repeat myself any more necessary today." Eleazar said with only a short glance in Alice's direction. He wished he knew how much the small girl had seen and how much she had shared with her adoring husband.

"Nothing." Edward responded to the man's private thoughts out of habit. "She's told him nothing, and that's even if she's seen any of it."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have doubted…" Eleazar began, but was cut off by Alice.

"It's ok, and you're right about not repeating yourself, I think once will be enough if what I'm seeing is any indication. And just to set your mind at ease, that isn't much. Mostly just blurs, and what I am seeing is disturbing and hopefully avoidable given anything that you're about to bring to light." Alice said cryptically, not breaking the man's gaze.

The group began to move into the family room as one, but Carlisle was the only one to actually speak. "Emmett, turn the game off. You and Garrett will need to hear this. Esme, if you and Rosalie, and Carmen, Tanya and Kate could come on downstairs for a bit, I would appreciate it." He didn't have to raise his voice, and everyone did as he said without question.

"What about us?" a small voice belonging to Cassie called from the top of the stairs, she had beat Nessie to the landing, but not by much, and the other girl now joined her.

"Stop!" Edward yelled as everyone's opinion on the matter of including the girls in the conversation started coming at him. "This decision is mine and Bella's and Jasper and Alice's." He exchanged a few silent looks with the other three named responsible parties, before looking back up at the two girls. "The votes are in and in the interest of not having a long drawn out argument about this, I'm going ask the two of you to go across the river to the cottage until one of us comes to get you. Sorry, but three out of the four of us think that you're still a little too young for this conversation. And it will be up to the one dissenter rather or not he wants to share this conversation after hearing it himself. Please, go now, girls. Hopefully, this won't take too long, and if it does, just call before you do anything outside of the cottage. Thank you." Edward said, glaring at Jasper, making it obvious to everyone that he was the dissenter in question. The girls didn't notice, however, and quickly exited the home through the front door.

"What? This is a family discussion, and I think that they should be involved in it. This is how the whole incident last night and this morning got started…" Jasper started in defense.

"Not now, Jazzy. Later, ok." Alice interrupted with a serious look.

"I apologize. Please, Eleazar, the floor is yours." Jasper said with a quiet bow of his head to show his embarrassment over trying to turn a petty issue into an argument, when the oldest Denali obviously had such an important announcement to make.

"Thank you, Jasper. Please, everyone, perhaps we should sit. This is a long explanation." Eleazar spoke slowly and seriously and once everyone had found a spot he began to relay to everyone the same story that he shared with Carlisle only moments before about Winston, the powerful newborn loyal only to himself and the Volturi. He could feel the tension in the room growing with each new revelation he made concerning Winston's magnetic ability. He couldn't tell if the tension was real, or if it was simply an enhanced tension that Jasper was emanating that caused the thickness in the room, but either way he was going to have to be careful with how he answered anyone's questions. "That's all I know, I'll be glad to answer any questions that any of you have, but first, I find it only fair to pass along everything that Carlisle and I talked about. I came here to let you know about Winston's existence, and also a possible solution to stopping him."

"Go to Volterra and rip this guy a new one. I'm game! We can take him! He's named after a cigarette for crying out loud!" Emmett declared with a huge grin. He was always eager for a good fight, and this cigarette guy seemed like the perfect target. Besides he didn't have any abilities that Winston could mess with.

"Emmett! That's quite enough." Esme quickly admonished her son's bad behavior. "I want hear what you have to say, Eleazar, please continue."

Again, his words were exactly the same ones that he had spoken before, but again the tension level in the room seemed to be at an all time high. He carefully met the eyes of each of the four Cullen children involved in his plan, trying to convey a deeper meaning than the one his words alone could. He silently pleaded with Edward to understand the full implication of everything should they attempt to defeat Winston in this way. He opened his decisions up to Alice, so that hopefully she would get some glimmer of a conversation that may never actually happen where he could explain the full seriousness of what she would be getting herself and her family into.

"So, what do the rest of us do? Those of us who aren't gifted and aren't targets of Mr. Cigarette, what's our part in this? I mean, I guess I could hold 'em down, or beat 'em up or something while they're possessed or whatever, but it's not like I could stop it the way Bella can. And how do you even know her shield will stop him? Can't he just steal that or attract it or whatever like he can with the others?" Emmett was the first to start asking the questions when Eleazar had stopped talking.

"I agree with Emmett. Why are we even here if we can't do anything to stop it? Or even to help? This is kind of boring for us normal vamps." Tanya complained.

"That's not what I said, and it's definitely not what I meant!" Emmett protested loudly, but was drowned out by the lectures of Carmen.

"You will not speak that way! The Cullens are our friends, our family, and we support them when they are in trouble! You may not be able to help directly, but I'm sure that you can help somehow if you would just make an effort to do so!" Carmen yelled at Tanya, a rare trait for her, but one that was absolutely necessary in this case.

"Tanya, if that is your attitude then you can leave and go to the cottage with the children!" Eleazar order harshly.

"No, I'm sorry. Carmen's right. The Cullens are our family, and as such, I'll help them however, I can." Tanya said aloud, but her thoughts didn't line up with the words spilling from her mouth, and her emotions were anything but apologetic. This caused both Edward and Jasper to send heavy glares in her direction, but both were ignored.

"Fine, I don't have time for this, not if we're going to get everyone trained in time. To answer your questions, Emmett, we're going to need everyone to help with this project. I have a few ideas of my own, and I'm sure that we can add to them as we go along. Mine just mainly involve training Alice and Edward to recognize key visions or thoughts that will trigger them into realizing they are being manipulated. Even when they are being tortured, they need to be able to respond to these very specific thoughts."

Edward gasped as realization hit him. "You intend to use Kate." He shot the woman in question a look of dread. He still remembered what Kate had done to him in the effort to help Bella learn control over her shield.

"It's my pleasure to assist," Kate with a smile to everyone concerned.

"No." Jasper's voice was firm. "I can't let her do that to Alice."

"You don't have a choice." Eleazar insisted. "She'll experience much worse at the hands of Winston. And the sooner that she learns her key vision and how to recognize it while under duress, the sooner we can move on from Kate, and on to the next stage. Besides, I don't think that it's wise just to test Alice and Edward. You and Bella might consider it a training tool as well."

"What do you mean?"

"How do you keep everyone calm when you aren't calm yourself? And if it becomes necessary, can Bella handle letting all three of you suffer for a little bit, and leave herself protected until she knows that it's safe to bring you inside her shield?"

"This isn't going to be easy. Kate, I'm not going to able to keep you from getting tired or discouraged like I've done before when you've had to overextend yourself. Are you sure that you can handle this?"

"I'm sure." Kate responded easily.

"And as for the second part of your question, about Bella," Eleazar started in an effort to refocus the conversation. "Demetri can't find Bella, therefore, Winston won't be able to find her, much less steal and manipulate her shield. Anyone inside her shield will have the same protection. If he can't find them, he can't steal them. At least that's how it will work from a distance. If Winston ever comes to Forks, no promises. I don't know enough about his ability to know if he can manipulate and steal Bella's shield while next to her in person as opposed to across a distance. My best guess is that he could steal her shield, since the theft of an ability is an actual physical effect. But he shouldn't be able to manipulate the part of her shield that she controls, only his part of it, since the operation of the shield is purely mental. Then, again, if he does steal it, and it weakens her, even momentarily, it may be to the point that he can penetrate it and manipulate it for himself. But there would be no point in doing that in person, not when he's already stolen her ability and created his own shield. That's all it would take for him to be virtually invulnerable."

"I'm not going to let that happen." Bella insisted firmly. "Alice will see if Winston decides to come to Forks and steal my shield, and I'll stay away from him. There has to be some kind of limit on how close he has to be to someone in order for his magnet thing to work. We'll find out what that limit is, and I'll just stay outside of it. And as long as I keep everyone else inside my shield, then we're all safe. In fact, I could go ahead and extend my shield around everyone now, and that way we don't have to worry about Winston ever being able to find us and manipulate us using Demetri's ability. Eventually, he'll just give up." Bella started to grow excited by her plan, but one look around the room at the other vampires, caused her smile to instantly turn into a frown. "What?"

"It's too dangerous. I won't let you do it." Edward was the first to answer, his voice cold and slightly angry.

Alice shook her head slowly from side to side, her expression pained. She held tightly to Jasper's hand and dropped her eyes as she started to speak. "That's just it, Bella. It is too dangerous, for all of us. But we're going to have to face this on. And I'm going to be blind to all of it. I can't ask you to keep me in your shield forever, and once I'm out of it, I won't be able to trust any of my visions. Any one of them could be a fake. If Winston really is as strong as Eleazar says, I'm useless to you. We won't know a thing until it's too late. You can't trust me, because I can't trust myself. I'll miss something, or see something long before it's going to happen and in the wrong circumstances, or something that has no chance of ever happening. And we can't rely on Edward anymore for the same reason." Alice wished for one of the few times in her life that she could cry.

"Shhh…." Jasper gently tried to comfort his wife by holding her hand ever tighter and releasing small waves of calm. "We can talk about this later. Besides, Bella can't raise her shield around all of us now without it being seen as an act of aggression. This may be a mental battle, but we will have to treat it as a physical one. Raising one's defenses implies the expectation of an attack, and there's no better way to provoke one to attack than promoting that expectation." He shot an extra dose of calm around the room, hoping that they could talk about their plan logically without panic running too high or nerves settling in.

"And you're going to have to stop doing that right now." Rosalie spoke for the first time directly at Jasper. "Cut yourself off sooner rather than later. You can't allow yourself project anything not knowing who could be manipulating your projections. Anger instead of calm. Jealously and hate instead of love. It would be a nightmare."

"Eleazar didn't seem to think that Jasper would be a target," Esme said quietly in her son's defense.

"Speaking of which, no offense, dear friend, but I have to argue with you on that point," Carlisle admitted solemnly. "I believe that Jasper will be just as much of a target as the others. Maybe not a priority, but a target none the less. Aro may not advertise it, but deep down, he, like many others, does have a desire for control. Jasper's ability on his side could just provide that control."

"But Aro already has Chelsea on his side. She accomplishes much the same thing, forcing other vampires to be loyal only to the Volturi," Eleazar protested in an attempt to play devil's advocate, and not wanting to reveal his real opinion on the matter.

"Yes, but Jasper's ability is very different from Chelsea's ability."

Eleazar sighed, there was no point in holding back any longer, not when he was being so honest about everything else. "That is very true. And you are right about one other thing my dear friend, Aro does covet Jasper's ability greatly, and I wasn't going to bring it up, and I hate to say it now, but I don't think that Winston is capable of using the ability as effectively as Jasper does. To the brothers, the genuine thing is more important than the proxy in this case."

"But Aro has never tried to recruit me, and Chelsea does an excellent job with her ability, so I always assumed that I was unimportant to the brothers," Jasper commented.

"No, not unimportant, just unattainable. Aro always thought that if he could recruit Alice, then you would follow, and be just as valuable to him. Now, with Winston in the picture, the goal has shifted. After he steals Alice's ability, he intends to destroy her, leaving you with no other choice than to join with him."

"Alice knows I would never do that. Edward does too..." His voice was so quiet that even the house of vampires had to strain to hear him. It was a somber statement that trailed off, leaving it to each individual to fill in the blanks. If Alice was destroyed, then Jasper would do what Edward had tried to do when he thought Bella had jumped off the cliff. He would destroy himself. He could feel Alice's hand squeezing his, and felt her immense love for him. She understood, and he knew that she had made the same commitment long ago. They would not, could not, live without the other.

"Why did I not know any of this?" Carlisle gasped incredulously.

"But you did know." Eleazar said simply. "No Cullen is unimportant to the brothers."

The room was silent for a long while after that final exchange, the kind of silence that only 13 vampires in a single place at a single time could create.

Finally, there was movement, then one by one, each person in room started to breathe again. They had to stop processing and start planning. The threat was real and the threat was eminent. The battle was on the horizon weather they were ready or not. "What's our time frame?" Jasper asked, already thinking further ahead in a military mindset than the others.

"I'm not sure actually. The brothers are very patient, and not as aggressive as we sometimes give them credit for." Eleazar began. "It is possible that they will instruct Winston to begin with small attacks of manipulation at first, just to see if he can before he outright steals their abilities. These manipulations may be ones that Edward and Alice aren't even aware of at first. In fact, it may have already started."

"Alice?" Jasper prompted gently, turning to face his love.

"No…" She started shaking her head. She refused to believe that she was already being manipulated. But she could never lie to Jasper. "Well, I have been having a lot of headaches lately, more than usual. And I saw Carlisle wearing a blue shirt today, not the green one he decided on. And I completely missed Rosalie's decision add those hideous car covers to the front seats in my Porsche, even though she had been thinking about it for weeks. But that could be a fluke."

"Or it could be Winston. Edward?"

Edward too started to deny the truth before confessing that he, too, had suffered a few erroneous nonexistent thoughts and missed others.

Alice blinked away the tail end of a vision as Edward was finishing his speech. "Scandinavia, Rose, really? I don't know about that. I don't think she's ready."

"I won't let her out of my sight. Besides, is the alternative any better? Listen to what you and Edward just told us and tell me that you want them around for what's to come. And your little break down earlier about not being able to trust yourself, it's only going to get worse. What happens when it effects Edward that way? Do you really think a child needs that on constant replay in their minds? Tell her I'm right about this." Rose ordered looking over at Edward.

"Well…it might be a good idea. Bella and I are going to have to talk about it later." Edward's voice was slow.

"Someone want to tell me what y'all are talking about?" Emmett begged impatiently.

"You and I are taking Nessie and Cassie on a tour of Scandinavia until this whole thing is over." Rosalie declared confidently.

"We are?"

"Yes, we are."

"Ok." And even though his words agreed, Emmett's tone was still very unsure.

"I have been silent until this point," Carmen interrupted, bringing one of the first comments from the other Denalis. "But I must speak to this. I believe it will be good to have the children away. This training my husband spoke of will not be easy, and you will need to stay focused on it, and not on your children. We will all stay with you with Eleazar and Kate until you are confident that you can defeat Winston. You will need all the support you can get. Please accept my offer and Rose's generous consideration."

"I'll think about it," Alice conceded.

There was no alone time for anyone that night or the next day or the rest of the weekend as everyone worked together to plan training schedules and defense tactics against Winston and prepare a Scandinavian tour that would make mere humans jealous.

Alice continued to put up quite the fight before agreeing to let Cassandra go with Rosalie for such an indefinite period of time. She wasn't entirely convinced that Cassie was ready to be away from her and Jasper for so long, but a short talk with Emmett was all the reassurance she needed.

"Look, Rosie loves Cassie just as much as you do. She won't let anything bad happen to her. Besides, I think this trip is exactly what she needs. A chance to be the doting aunt and the spoiled niece is exactly what they both need. And if it makes you any more comfortable, I won't let any of them out of my sight for a minute, Rosalie, Cassie, or Nessie. And I will severely injure anyone that tries to hurt any of them, especially Cassie. And if she has any…control issues while we're gone, you can trust me to take care of it. She's still a strong newborn, but I'm bigger than she is, and Rose is smarter." Emmett told her with a serious smirk.

Alice still wasn't entirely sure until Emmett mentioned that he, Edward and Jasper had had a long talk about the impending attack from Winston and the Volturi earlier that weekend. "I really don't think that you want Cassandra around to witness that." He told her quietly. It was one of the few times that Alice had seen Emmett so serious.

"Promise me again that you won't leave Rosalie alone with the girls. It's not that I don't trust her, but I would feel more comfortable if you were there if something happens."

"I promise. Even if I have to tie Rose to a bedpost in Grimstad to keep her from getting away with the girls without me, then I will." That had brought a smile to Alice's face.

The final obstacle that stood in the way to getting Cassandra out of town for the big battle was Cassandra herself. "I can help more if I'm here. Jasper and I have been working really hard on my mirror ability this week. I'm sure I can help you fight Winston. I know it. Please let me stay and fight." She begged Alice when given the news that she would be going to Scandinavia with Rosalie and Emmett.

"I'm sure that you could help. But please just trust me and Jasper this time. You still aren't quite ready yet to take on somebody like Winston. If Eleazar is right, then it would be like fighting yourself. Mirrors can't beat magnets. Maybe next time the Volturi come after us, you'll be ready. But just not this time, ok?"

"But…"

"No, Cassie, I'm sorry. You're going to Scandinavia."

"Jasper said…"

"Jasper and I have talked about this. He agrees that going with Rosalie and Emmett will be the safest thing for you to do."

"I don't care about being safe. I care about helping to protect my vampire angels like you protected me when I was still sick."

"You can do that by going to Scandinavia with Rosalie and Emmett. Please, if Jasper and I know that you are safe, then it'll help us focus on beating Winston."

Cassie paused for a full minute before sighing, and slowly nodding her head. "Ok, I'll go." She whispered.

It had now been two weeks since the four Cullens had left for their Scandinavian expedition, and those left behind were starting to get antsy, at least as antsy as Vampires could get. The continued presence of the Denalis helped, but it was no substitute for the comfort that the presence of the vacationing family members would have provided. It was a waiting game, and despite having all the time in the world, it is just as hard for a vampire to wait as it is for a human to wait. Edward was spending most of his free time between training sessions in the attic lab with Carlisle trying to find a medical or biological way to beat Winston at his own game. Unfortunately, the small advances they had made in the past few months on gene manipulation were nowhere close to where they needed to be in order to perfect the mad scientist project they had undertaken. Jasper and Bella were hunting two times nearly every day, once before training, and again after training. Eleazar had insisted that it was critical for Bella to stay full since she was their only defense and the training was taking a lot out of her. And Jasper was having a hard time staying in the house and waiting, so it made sense for him to accompany her on her hunts. The tension in the house was becoming too much for him to handle all at once. It helped to split his time between Bella during the day and Alice at night. And as an added bonus, he and Bella were able to spend the time working on combining their abilities and stretching them to limits they had previously been unable to attain. Neither had expected the challenge to be easy, but it was by far more difficult than they had imagined.

After one very difficult, albeit successful, training session, Jasper had decided to hunt on his own to give him time to think about he had learned about himself and his life now as Cullen during that day's session. His goal was to get a message to Edward. Sounded simple enough, but Edward was being pounded by the thoughts of Esme, Carlise, Alice, Eleazar, Carmen, Garrett, and Tanya, and Jasper's message would naturally have gotten lost in the jumble of things if it wasn't so unique. As an added challenge, however, Jasper was being shocked by Kate while trying to communicate with Edward. He never knew how hard it was to think while under duress. He had never tried before. Before, with Maria, it had been easy, he didn't think when he was injured and in pain during a battle. He simply operated on instinct during those times. Eventually, Edward got the message, and Kate was ordered to stop shocking him despite the somewhat pleasure she got out of it. She had promised him that she didn't really enjoy it, and he hadn't felt any deception in her at the time, but he knew better than some that causing someone else pain often brought an unwelcome sensation of pride in oneself because you were proving to the be the powerful one in the interaction.

Jasper was following the trail of a doe when the most pleasing scent in the world of a vampire assailed his senses. Human. He couldn't stop himself from changing courses. It was close, and it was wounded. It was bleeding out, and its aroma had no choice but to fill any dark creatures in the woods with ecstasy. He could see the human now, it was with another. The bloody wound didn't look too bad, but it was unable to walk in its current condition. It was male and its companion was female. They were young, children, perhaps the same age as Cassie. Looking back on it, Jasper knew that it was that single thought that was the only thing that saved the life of those two children that late afternoon. He had compared them to Cassie, they became real.

The girl spotted him first and ran to him, not even halting her approach when she could see his features with full clarity. "Please help us. We're lost, and my friend is hurt bad. Please, you have to help us." She was begging him, pleading with him to be her rescuer. What else could he have done but agree to be just that.

He lifted the boy in one swift motion and carried him out of the woods, making sure that the girl kept close. He didn't know how far he had carried the boy or when he had met up with the joggers that called for an ambulance to take the injured boy to the hospital. He never even asked Carlisle to look into it and find out the children's names. He didn't go home that night and brag to the family and the cousins about what had happened. But something inside of him was singing. He knew what Alice had been talking about the other day when she had told him how proud she was of him. He really had done it. He had conquered his bloodlust, at least this time. And he owed it all to Cassandra, the little girl who had once called him a vampire angel brother, and now looked to him as a father figure. It was enough for now to know what he had done without having to boast about it to everyone else. They had to focus on Winston now, and in the grand scheme, his accomplishment wasn't that important, it was just a long time in coming. Now that it had, it was time to move on to the next challenge.

Winston's attack did finally come, strong and hard, and without warning. Tanya's clan had taken their leave the previous evening. Edward, Carlisle, and Esme were out hunting. Bella was timing herself as she played book after book full of Sudoku puzzles. It was still so fascinating to her how much quicker her mind worked since changing. And Alice and Jasper were cuddled in one another's arms alone in their room.

Alice was tired of waiting for something to happen and was determined to get a lead on the Volturi's plans. Instead of the usual cloudiness she saw every time she had tried to see them lately, this time she was met with a huge tidal wave of images. All of them were torturous and terrible. It was enough to make her scream, and so scream, she did.

"Alice! What's wrong?" Jasper started to panic the instant he felt Alice's emotions turn dark. "Alice, come on, babe, come back to me." He said quietly and sweetly, trying to talk her out of her vision and whatever horrible images she must be seeing to make her scream like that. He was vaguely aware of Bella running into the room and reaching out toward Alice as well. "Alice, please, you have to come back now." He insisted, but it was no use. She was trapped, trapped in the mental torture that Winston had unleashed on her, torture that no one else could ever hope to understand.

"Jasper, what's happening? Is it Winston?" Bella asked, concerned for both her sister and her brother.

"I don't know. She just started screaming, and her emotions are so dark." Jasper sobbed.

"Look, if this is Winston, then you need to pull it together, you need to be able to keep her calm, at least until Edward can make it back here and find out what's going on in her head."

"Oh, Bella, look at her, she's in so much pain. Her emotions, it's so hard. Oh, goodness, it is Winston, isn't it? Oh, crud, I didn't know it was going to be this bad."

"I know. But you have to work through it, for Alice."

"Ok." Jasper's voice was heavy and raspy as he spoke. "Ok." He said again, a bit stronger. "It would help if you were more calm. I can channel it from you to her, but you have to help by staying calm too."

Bella took several unnecessary deep breaths, a habit left over from being human, hoping to calm down enough on an artificial level that she would be of some help to Jasper and consequently to Alice.

"Thank you." Jasper whispered to her in a voice too quiet for human ears. "Now, work on getting your shield up. Remember what Eleazar said, once we're able to isolate what parts of Alice's vision Winston's manipulating, we'll need to push him out and keep him out. For right now, just stretch your shield around me so Winston won't start manipulating me too. That would be bad for all of us."

Bella silently complied with Jasper's instructions, wishing that Edward would get there soon. He had promised not to go far, so that he would still be able to hear their minds if something like this happened.

"There. It's ok, Alice. It's all going to be ok. I've got you. Edward will be here soon, and we can get him out of your head." Jasper whispered to Alice, then looked up at Bella. "I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this. I wasn't prepared for this, even after Eleazar took the extra time to train with us."

"Don't think about that right now, Jasper. Just keep Alice in a happy spot until Edward gets here. He has to know what's going on by now." Bella spoke slowly to help regulate her own mood and to keep her concentration on her shield. Feeling a sudden boost in energy, she smiled gratefully at Jasper and forced her mood to remain steady.

"I got here as fast as I could. Let me get close to her, and Bella get my mind in your shield. Jasper, a little less calm, and a little more courage, please." Edward said in a rush as he ran into the house and up the stairs to Alice and Jasper's room. He placed himself next to Alice on the bed and reached out one hand to Bella with pleading eyes.

Jasper quickly adjusted his position so that Edward could get close to Alice, knowing how important contact would be if he was going to try to identify which parts of Alice's visions were being manipulated by Winston. He adjusted his mood controls as well to accommodate Edward. He watched as Bella tightly gripped Edward's hand in one of hers and stretched her other hand out to rest on his own shoulder. He smiled at her, thankful for the gesture of comfort.

The four vampires were deathly silent except for the small whimpers and cries that Alice was continuing to make. Edward gasped occasionally at something he saw in Alice's vision. Bella could feel her shield starting to falter and looked over at Jasper worriedly.

"Concentrate on Edward. Keep him in your shield no matter what. If you have to let me slip out to do it, then so be it. And please stabilize your mood." Jasper panted out to Bella with the effort of trying to replace everyone's fear and pain with calm and strength. He could feel it the instant that he slipped outside of Bella's shield. Suddenly the emotions in the air around him seemed to multiply exponentially. Winston had found him and was manipulating what he felt from the others. This guy was playing hard ball, and Jasper intended to answer it with everything he had. He groaned loudly at the force of all of it, but somehow managed to keep the negative emotions to himself and kept sending out waves of calm and courage. "Alice, my love, please don't let Winston win this one. You know what's real and what's not. Help her Edward." Jasper's words had become incoherent with the emotional weight in the room.

"Jasper," Bella managed to whisper knowing that both Alice and Edward were now deeply trapped by Winston's manipulations. "Try something different, like love, and adoration or joy. It'll keep us all more aware, and less dulled."

Jasper groaned with the effort, but slowly managed to shift the mood within the room once more. "How's that? I can't feel what I'm sending out as long as I'm outside your shield. I can only feel what Winston wants me to, and trust me, that's not something that I'm going to be sending out any time soon."

"It's a little heavy on the lust, try a little less physical love."

"Ok. Now?"

"Better." Bella breathed out the air she had been holding in her useless lungs.

Edward's grip tightened on Bella's hand in that moment and he released a small groan. Bella gasped at the increased pressure, but did nothing to discourage him. "I think." Edward started to say, but grew quiet again.

This pattern continued for what seemed like hours. The occasional words, the gasps and growls created quite the sound track within the Cullen home.

Unknown to the tiny circle, a fifth vampire was watching the entire interaction. Carlisle stood silently in the door way watching the mental battle and wishing there was something that he could do for his children. "There is." The response came from Edward. It was the first indication Carlisle had that anyone knew he was there. He winced internally as Edward turned a pained expression to Carlisle. "Help us move outside. To the woods. It's not you. It's Esme. This is killing her and it's going to get worse before it gets better. I can't do that to her." It was the most Edward had spoken since he first returned from hunting, leaving behind a half-drained deer.

"Ok, I'll carry Alice, so you, Bella, and Jasper can help each other." Carlisle could tell that it would be very difficult for his children to make it anywhere in their current state of mental turmoil. The stillness was helping their concentration and he hated to interrupt it. But he knew that Edward was right. If Esme's thoughts were disturbing him, then he was sure her mood was just as difficult for Jasper to handle.

"No. Jasper's being manipulated by Winston too. He can broadcast just fine, but the only things he gets in return are what Winston wants him to." Edward answered Carlisle's thought.

"No." Jasper shook his head, able to move and speak only minimally. "If Eleazar is right and Aro ordered him not to steal my ability, then Winston has to be getting his manipulated emotions from somewhere and this does have Esme's familiar touch. I agree we need to move, but I'll carry Alice. I couldn't let go of her now if I tried. Tell Esme it's not her fault, she's right to feel as she does and I would be glad to help her with that, but this is all Winston's doing and he's just using her. And I can't stop him from doing it. I won't fight you if you want to stay nearby though, Carlisle. Somehow, you've managed to affect me despite Winston's manipulation and it's comforting." Jasper moaned with the effort of trying to talk to Carlisle and maintain the emotional balance of the room.

"If we're going to go, let's go now while I still have my shield around Edward." Bella pointed out and then gasped.

"Right." Carlisle said and reached out to help Bella and Edward stand, leaving Jasper to carry Alice as he had requested. Their movements were slow even to a human, and it seemed to take forever for the group to get deep enough into the woods that Edward could no longer hear Esme's thoughts. They were all breathing heavily from the strain of having to keep their concentration as they moved.

Jasper collapsed onto the soft, wet grass the instant that Edward indicated they were far enough away. He held Alice in his lap, allowing Edward to take both of her hands in his as he knelt down beside the pair. Bella tried to remain standing with one hand on Edward's shoulder and the other hand on Jasper's, but she soon collapsed to her knees between the two men, on the other side of Alice from Edward. Carlisle slowly moved backwards, but stayed close to his children, so he could watch out for them, and help however it was needed.

Hours passed without anyone saying anything intelligible and without anyone moving so much as to blink. Bella was intermittently able to extend her shield around Jasper, giving him temporary relief from Winston's manipulations. Edward was slowly picking away at and plucking out the manipulated parts of Alice's visions. And Jasper changed the emotions he was sending out occasionally to keep their instincts alert. Finally, Edward spoke the words everyone was so eager to hear. "I think we've managed to isolate the last manipulation. Get ready with your shield Bella. You'll have to include all of us at once."

"Alright, I'm ready. Just tell me when." Bella said as she closed her eyes in concentration.

Bella felt a new wave of warmth from Jasper and a little courage at the same moment that Alice's eyelids started to twitch and her mouth started form the words _not real_. "Now, Bella." Edward said quietly and Bella felt a wave of love that she knew had come from Edward through Jasper. The added encouragement was just what she needed to enable her shield to spread around and enclose all those around her.

Alice was aware only that Edward, Bella, and Jasper were speaking around her, but she couldn't understand what was being said, and at one point, she thought she heard Carlisle's voice as well. The endless vision of torture seemed to smother her and monopolize her entire body, making it impossible for her to move. This was more than a normal vision, it was something she couldn't comprehend. Little by little inconsistencies had started to appear in the repeating images. A missing tree here, an extra rock there, a blue blanket instead of a beige one. At first, Alice had no idea what it meant. Then in a moment of clarity, she knew what was happening. Winston was in her head, holding her captive and manipulating everything in her visions. Edward was there too, seeing what she was seeing. The only difference was that he would be shielded by Bella and would see the manipulations for what they were, and like they had decided during their numerous training sessions with Eleazar, Edward was finding something in each piece of her vision that was being manipulated, and he was deciding to change it. All Alice had to do was locate the changes, identify that piece of the vision as a manipulation courtesy of Winston, thus extracting her mind from the now recognized false vision. It was slow work, but eventually Alice began to recognize the clues Edward was leaving her. The scene with the missing tree disappeared, and the one with the extra rock, and even the one with the blue blanket that should have been beige. Alice didn't know how long she had been in the trance like state that accompanied her visions, but she did know that when she came out of it, her first thought was of Jasper. "Jasper." She spoke in a weak voice that she didn't believe could have possibly belonged to her. "Jasper." She spoke again, slightly louder this time, but still not as strong as her normal voice.

"I'm right her, darling. I've got you." Jasper's whispered re-assurances came to her. "You've been through a lot, dear, try to stay quiet just a bit longer." Jasper's voice continued to speak to her.

Slowly, very slowly, Alice became aware of her surroundings. She was sitting in Jasper's lap with his arms around her. She was physically and mentally exhausted, and she somehow sensed the same was true for Jasper. His voice had been weak, almost like he was in pain. Had she done that to him? Had her endless visions somehow translated into her emotions? Was he hurting because of her?

Jasper winced at the worry and confusion from his wife and instantly countered it with calm and comfort. He could feel Alice slowly starting to relax in his arms. Glancing over at Bella and Edward, he saw them in a similar state as himself and Alice. Bella had climbed into Edward's lap and was holding him as close and as tight as she possibly could. They were whispering sweet nothings to each other, much as he was doing for Alice. None of the four could move just yet. The events of the past few hours had left them completely drained. Looking into Alice's eyes, he saw that they were black as coal, and knew that his eyes must be just as black, as were Edward's and Bella's.

Jasper was the first to recover enough to speak what was on everyone else's mind. "Bella, how far can you extend your shield?"

"Not very far, at least not right now. I'm doing good to keep all four of us in it and Carlisle's completely out at the moment." Bella admitted weakly.

Jasper blinked in Carlisle's direction. He had completely forgotten that his adopted father was nearby.

"Ok, then we hunt together. With any luck this battle will have exhausted Winston as much as it did us. And he'll have to feed before challenging us again. Alice, honey, can you stand?" He looked lovingly at the bundle in his arms.

"I think so," came the reply.

It was probably the most difficult hunt that the four Cullen siblings had taken together, but they managed to get through it without a major incident.

Even after three deer apiece, their overall mental states weren't any better. All four were drained beyond any normal limits they had experienced before. It was going to be some time before any of them returned to a normal baseline.

They dragged themselves back to the house wordlessly, giving Carlisle and Esme an empty look that spoke volumes about what they had gone through. Jasper pointedly ignored their emotions of curiosity, worry, and concern, sending them a wave of the last tiny bit of healthy emotion he had left to share with anyone, hope. For Jasper hope would never die. He had Alice to thank for that.

Edward ignored the silent questions that ran endlessly through their heads, choosing instead to concentrate on the thoughts in Alice's head. Her only coherent thought was the one of a small victory, they were barely existing, but they remained intact through the greatest mental battle in Vampire history, and that had to be enough for her, for all of them, at least for now, at least until the next battle came, one that would no doubt be even worse than this one. Until then, she clung to the hope she felt coming from her beloved.

"We'll talk later, Carlisle. Right now we just need to rest." Edward's voice was tired and pained as he spoke for the group, but it was enough to get their two doting parents to let them go upstairs without further discussion.


	12. And War Rages On

**Author's Note: Thank you so much to all of those new readers who have added this story to alerts! I hope you continue to follow the story and enjoy it!**

**I'm actually quite happy with the way this chapter came together. I know it can be a little confussing in parts, and if it really doesn't make sense, please feel free to let me know. I'll be more than happy to clarify, and if necessary, edit. Anyway, regardless of rather you like the story or not, please review it, constructively. I am still offering a free Jasper drabble to anyone who signs their review. And if you aren't a Jasper fan, I could always write one for another character if you let me know which one you perfer!**

**There's probably only going to be two more chapters in this fic, but I do have a sequal planned! For those who are interested, I'm also going to start posting an all-inclusive Stargate fic that will be my contribution to Gateworld's Stargate Rewatch Project. First chapter will be posted sometime in the next week.**

**Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it belongs to SM, everything else is mine, and before you ask, the "quote" that Jasper remembers in this chapter is simply one I made up, any resemblance to an actual quote is coincidental. **

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A week went by, and then two, and before the Cullens knew it, a full month had passed without any further incident or challenge from Winston or the Volturi. Bella had only lowered her shield from around the Cullen home for very short periods of time ever since the first attack Winston had made on the family. She couldn't keep everyone inside of it at all times. If they ventured too far when hunting, or if she herself went hunting, the shield usually slipped, but for the most part it was staying up, and it was taking a huge toll on her. Edward, Jasper, Alice, and even Carlisle and Esme had each taken a turn, begging her to lower it for longer periods of time in order to rest. But Bella had always been stubborn and she wasn't sure she was ready to witness Edward being tortured the way Alice had been. And ever since that day, Alice had given up on trying to see the Volturi. Either her visions were too cloudy, or too vague, or it was a lingering mistrust of herself, but for whatever reason, it just wasn't working the way it should. Winston was always a crucial part in their decision making, and even inside of Bella's shield, Alice absolutely refused to open herself fully to him again.

Edward would have normally felt useless, just waiting around for his turn to be the one under attack from the unseen mental force. But Bella had convinced him that his role was still critical, so he did the only thing he could. He monitored for Demetri's presence both inside and outside of Bella's shield. If Demetri's mental pattern was present, then they knew Winston's mind couldn't be far behind, and now, thanks to the extensive time he had spent in Alice's head, he thought he had a pretty good read for Winston's unique mental signal as well, so he also monitored for that, even knowing that by the time he found it, it would be too late. Winston would already be in his head, ready to steal his ability and manipulate it so that he would hear false thoughts from those he loved most. He was dreading the day that it happened. He could tell himself for hours on end that he would know the logical truth when such an attack came, but from what he remembered of Alice's visions, the falseness would be so powerful that all logic and reason would be out the door.

They took turns hunting in pairs, each of them spending as much time with each of the others as they could, and for various reasons. When Alice and Jasper hunted together, the conversation inevitably turned toward Cassie. They were starting to miss Cassandra more than they thought possible. Emmett and Rosalie made sure to check in every day, but just hearing that she was ok wasn't the same as seeing that she was ok. "Let's go to Europe, Jazz, just for the weekend, just to see her. It's not fair that she just came into our lives a short while ago, only to be ripped away because we can't protect both ourselves and her. There has to be a better way. I wish they could all come home, and if something happens, I wish Emmet and Rosalie could shield her and Nessie before they see something they wouldn't be able to forget. I wish I could see something, anything at all that I could trust!" Her voice started to rise toward the end of her small rant and she punctuated the final word by pounding her fist hard against Jasper's chest.

The sound of rocks crashing echoed throughout the forest, but Jasper ignored it, only feeling, only seeing, only hearing his wife's pain over not seeing the child she loved as a daughter for nearly two months now. He wrapped his arms tightly around the small woman in hopes of calming her, but didn't send any additional emotional waves her way. She would ask for it when she needed it, but for now, he just had to let her feel. "Shh…Alice, I miss her too, I really do. But there's nothing we can do about it until we know for sure that Winston is no longer a threat. He's only had one battle with us, and if what Eleazar told Carlisle about his last conversation with the brothers is any indication, then there will be more battles to come. There were no winners last time. And I don't think there will be any next time either. Not until it all comes to a head. And I fear that final battle will be face to face and either we won't be left standing, or he won't be. Winston has proven himself very formidable. He uses tactics that I've never encountered or anticipated before. And from what Eleazar told Carlisle, he didn't even anticipate the nature of the last attack. We're going to have work extra hard next time. We know he's probably going to use Edward, but what we don't know is how. Will it be an all out sudden manipulation like it was with you? Or will it be more subtle this time? What thoughts will Winston try to make him hear from us? Will his aim be to divide us outright? Or just plant small seeds of doubt? I'm done guessing, Alice. It's all wait and see at this point, and we have to be prepared for anything. That's why we can't have Cassie here, and why we can't go see her, even for a weekend. If Edward tries to attack us because of a false thought he hears, Cassie's instinct, even at her young age, and even as a newborn will be to protect us, her parents. She has far too much confidence in an ability she still knows so little about. Emmett's tried working with her some, to see if she can use it to reveal tricky salesmen for what they are. Basically, Emmett's theory is that if a salesman tries to lie, Cassie can reflect the lie back, and the salesman should immediately reveal the truth instead. Its success has given her confidence a much unneeded boost. Meaning, if she's here, she won't just see the horror of mental battle as Carlisle did, but she'll be right in the middle of it."

Alice shook her head where it was buried in Jasper's chest. "You don't understand. I know that she can't be here for her sake. But the small seeds of doubt that you mentioned are already there, Jasper. I never let Edward tell you what Winston made me see for a reason." She felt the love of her life stiffen at her words, but continued. "He made me see such horrible things." Alice gasped at the memory, and couldn't continue.

"I won't push you Alice, but someday, soon, I'd like you to share those things with me. Everything that Winston made you see. I felt it, Alice, I know how terrible it was for you. It was terrible for me too, feeling you that way, but I would still like to know."

Alice took a deep unnecessary breath, and finally revealed what she knew Jasper had been waiting so long to hear. "I saw death." The words were simple, but Jasper felt the cold air that surrounded Alice's emotions as she spoke them. "I saw Rosalie going ballistic and running away with Cassie and Nessie, claiming them as her own. Cassandra was killing mass herds of humans, and finally, she was killed herself before…before it went too far. I saw Maria with an infant, a baby boy, and she said it was yours. She was saying that you hadn't been loyal to me, and had fathered a child with a human woman, and that this baby boy wasn't the first, that she was keeping them all to raise as her own until you returned to her. I saw pain and suffering in every member of our family, and you most of all. I saw you rejecting Maria and denying her claims, and I saw her torturing you, forcing you to relent and come back to her. There's truth in that one Jasper, I've seen it before. Someday, someday she'll be back."

"That's enough. I won't let her hurt us that way. You're smart enough to see the truth that's right in front of you. I know you are, darling. Just remember that. Don't let Winston's torture get to you."

"That's what Edward told me."

"He's right." Jasper said the last with a smile, glad that his brother had his back in this as he did in everything else.

"I know, I just can't stop seeing it now, not as vision, but as a memory. The seed is there, Jasper." Alice re-buried her head in Jasper's chest, wishing for the millionth time that she could cry to release her many emotions. "No, let me feel it, just this one time," she ordered Jasper when she felt the hints of calm starting to approach from him. "Just give me this." She could feel Jasper complying with her request, and sank ever deeper into him, here in the forest, on this night it was just her and him, and nothing else mattered. It was so reminiscent of the diner all those long years ago, and it felt like home.

Usually on the nights after he hunted with Alice, Jasper insisted on hunting with Bella. They had learned to build on the trick that they had discovered the night when Alice was under attack. If Bella was able to stay calm enough, then Jasper could feed off of her calm, and even multiple it and extend it. It was on these nights that Bella's shield was the strongest. And that's why Jasper always wanted to hunt with her after hunting with Alice. It was his way of protecting the one he loved. If he could keep Bella's shield strong, he knew that he was keeping Alice safe.

Then came the night he would hunt with Edward. These were the nights he hated the most. It wasn't Edward that he hated, or even his brother's mood. It was what being around Edward did to him. If he were honest, it scared him. They all expected Edward to be Winston's next target, and Jasper hated the idea of possibly being the one to witness the beginnings of that attack. It wasn't pretty with Alice, and he expected it to be worse with Edward. "You don't have to do that, you know," Edward growled at Jasper after hearing his thoughts.

"Do what?" Jasper feigned innocence.

"You know what. Be afraid of me. You don't have to do that. I have enough common sense to know that whatever manipulations Winston makes me hear from you all aren't true. I'm not going to snap and suddenly attack you."

"But you admit that you could."

"Of course I could. Alice's visions paralyze her. My mind reading just becomes another thought as I'm acting."

"Exactly. What if the manipulation is so strong, so outrageous that you don't take the proper time to process it and just react and attack? What if it's something plausible? Or something that you fear? It'll be so easy for you to believe it. I hate what this is doing to us. It was probably the Volturi's and Winston's intention all along. To make us wary of each other. Let us destroy our own bonds so that they won't have to."

Edward immediately shook his head. "We've always been equally matched in a fight. No offense, but if I attack, I would much rather it be you than someone else. If you have to fight me back to keep the others safe, then I have no doubt you would do that. Even if it comes to biting, or ripping off limbs. I would forgive you. If Winston attacks me, I would much rather it come with you around than Bella. Besides I like your unique thoughts most of all. They stand out the easiest. Power Rangers and Cabbage Patch Dolls having a tea party, classic." Edward said referring to the pre-arranged way of alerting him to his manipulation. The others were to immediately think about the most random thing they could, and he would know to regain control and not act on anything until he had time to sort out real thoughts from manipulated thoughts, throwing out the false ones, and not letting anything else into his head until he was back inside Bella's shield.

"Alright, then, I guess we wait." Jasper resolved.

"No, we don't wait, we invite the attack." Edward insisted.

"What?"

"We invite the attack. I know that you're still angry with Alice for what she did the first time, seeking out the Volturi's future in her visions without the proper precaution of Bella's shield. The door was wide open for Winston. I also know that you've yet to confront her about it."

"Shouldn't what she saw be punishment enough. Yes, I was and still am to some degree, angry with her about the foolishness of it, but she's suffered enough without me reminding her of why it happened in the first place." Jasper interrupted.

"Still, I think that she was right to do it. She wasn't ready for the full brunt of the attack, but she was as ready as she could have been. And inviting the attack, getting it over with, was easier than waiting. Besides that, and I do hope you agree with this point at least, the sooner Winston realizes that we are just as strong as he is, the sooner he'll be forced out of hiding behind the Volturi, and will be forced to face us himself. I know that you know that it will be a bitter final battle, but in the end, it will be worth it, and we will be the ones left standing. And we won't have to worry about the Volturi again for awhile."

"To draw out one's enemy is either foolish or genius. It is genius only when the enemy is foolish." Jasper quoted from some memory, now long forgotten. "I don't think Winston is foolish, and I know that the Volturi aren't. If we draw him out too soon, we're as good as dead. I don't know that we can win this war, Edward. Alice can't see it, and it's something I have no experience with. We could lose this just as easily as Winston could. I would like to be more prepared before we go inviting attack."

"We'll never be more prepared, and waiting is just making me antsy. I need to be at the top of my game for this, and that's now. I know the difference between how I feel when I'm inside Bella's shield and outside of it. And I know how to slip out of it without her knowing. I've practiced, but never for very long. And it won't take long if I time it right. I haven't decided anything for sure though, so there's no need to try to stop me."

"It's your decision, Edward, but just know that you are impacting all of us by it." Jasper warned just before catching the scent of a bear and turning on his heel to chase after it. There seemed to be a lot more bears around this season. Or maybe, it was just the fact that Emmett was out of the country. Thoughts of Emmett spurred thoughts of Cassie and thoughts of Cassie spurred him to run faster. He had to stay strong, ready to mentally do battle with Winston if he ever wanted to see the girl he loved as a daughter again.

Two days later, Edward's decision was made. He would be the one to test the waters outside of Bella's protective shield. It was a split second decision that Alice could have never seen coming, and one that would put all of the Cullens once more in grave danger. He was alone in his and Bella's cabin when it happened. He knew that Demetri, or possibly Winston himself was nearby. Even inside the shield, the brain pattern was unmistakable. The second his mind was outside of Bella's shield, Winston seized it, capturing his ability, and planting a manipulation that would destroy a lesser man. Bella felt Edward's loss moments too late. She couldn't take him back now without bringing Winston inside the shield. Wordlessly, she gripped Alice with one hand and Jasper with the other pulling them away from the video game they had been eagerly playing to pass the time and dragged them to the cabin across the river. Though no one spoke a word, they all knew what was happening. The fear on Bella's face was plain even to a human. And her grip would have left bruises if they could get them.

"Edward." It came out as little more than a gasp. Bella was stunned by the sight of her husband and love of her life laying motionless, but clearly in pain on their bed as she entered the cabin in front of Jasper and Alice. She wanted to rush to his side, but was unsure of the consequences if she did so. They had talked about this moment, about how to handle it when it happened. Edward had insisted that she stay safe and if there was any chance at all of him reacting violently, then she shouldn't approach him. She started to move forward, seeing pain not anger in his face. But she paused when his body twitched, and looked back to her brother and sister for direction.  
Jasper's first impression at seeing Edward was very different from Bella's. He was instantly assaulted by overwhelmingly negative emotions, all of which weren't coming directly from Edward. Could he have somehow slipped outside of Bella's shield as well? He couldn't stop the small groan, and even smaller growl from escaping his lips.

"Jazz?" Alice sounded worried at her husband's reaction.

Jasper was now standing at Edward's side, but held up a hand to keep Alice and Bella from approaching. "No, Alice, stay away. And keep Bella back too. Winston's obviously manipulating what Edward hears from all of us. I have no way of knowing what it is he's hearing, but at first, it just hurt him, and now it's making him angry, too angry. Please, just stay back until I say it's ok. I know you both want to come to him, but until we know how he's going to react to this, it's best if you keep back. Back off. Now!" Jasper's voice was strained and came out as a half growl, half moan.

"My shield!" Bella cried distracting Alice from her husband and her brother long enough that she could reach out to help support her sister.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked sharply unable to see anything but static at the moment.

"My shield's gone! I knew Edward was already outside of it, but it just dropped completely. We're all outside of it. Even me! I can't get it back!" Bella was quickly becoming hysterical.

"Calm her down, Alice. I'm getting way too much panic right now, and that's not good when mixed with this anger."

"I think you've started broadcasting that panic, Jazz." Alice's voice was slow as she tried to hold off her own overwhelming emotions, and stay calm long enough for Jasper to draw what he could from her.

"I know, I know. Thank you. Now get Bella outside. Help her get her shield back up, we're going to need it. For all we know, she lost it momentarily because Winston stole it. And unless you're despairing, I'm being manipulated as well. We didn't anticipate a multifaceted attack like this. At this rate, he's going to come after you again too. Please, outside, shield, get in it with Bella. Leave us. I'll let you back in when it's safe. In the meantime it's just creating a feedback loop, and it's becoming too emotionally heavy for me right now. I can calm him if I can get past my own manipulations, but I can't do it with you and Bella in here in this state." Jasper panted, not realizing that he was talking at buzz speed, and broadcasting more than just panic. In fact, it was enough to make Alice lose any sense of calm that she had left. But she still knew enough to grab Bella's wrist and lead both of them out of the cabin.

Jasper's relief when Alice and Bella left the room was short lived. The anger and hurt coming from Edward was more emotion than he had had to deal with in one place at one time in decades. It was entirely crushing to his very soul in a way he had never experienced before. There was still despair in the air, and now a taste of isolation as well. Jasper pushed these two emotions to the side, knowing there was no source of them, other than Winston's manipulation. Part of Jasper knew that he had to accomplish all of his end goals in the next few minutes in order to keep the rest of the family safe. There was no time to think, only time to act. He wished he could crumble to the floor and just give in to the painful emotions, let them consume him. But that would have such disastrous consequences that he would have to live in isolation for the rest of his existence to avoid the emotional fallout. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Jasper counted to 10 in his head, and listed out the goals of the situation like his years as a warrior had taught him. There could be only one reason for Winston's choice in attacking like this. He and the Volturi must truly wish for the Cullens to destroy themselves from within, and he must realize that in order to do that, he needed to attack them all at once, not one at a time. Jasper was determined that at least would not happen, ever. He had to default to the plan that had been prearranged, and quickly while he still had some of his senses left. He could deal with the rampant emotions both from Edward and from Winston and from the girls outside later, but first Edward needed to isolate his real hearings from his false hearings and the only way to do that was to feed him a real hearing. Jasper growled aloud this time as a fresh tsunami of emotions washed over him, threatening to drown him. He had to act now, get his senses in line enough to think.

He felt Alice's return to the inside of the cabin before he heard her or even smelled her. He placed her as just inside the doorway. "Bella's still outside, but you need me. You can't help Edward while you yourself are being manipulated. Please, it's my turn to help you, let me." Alice told him quietly.

Again, he felt more than he heard Alice. Calm. Immense calm was radiating from her. It was a calm that was so purely Alice. It was real. This was his reality to cling to, and he welcomed it, letting it wash over him. He allowed it to fill him, forcing the anger and despair he felt from Edward and Winston to evaporate.

He imagined the calm he felt from Alice collecting itself into a tight ball, much as he had tried to teach Cassie to do when she was mirroring him. He then imagined loading the ball of calm and tranquility into a cannon and aiming it directly at the essentially comatose Edward. Then in one final thought Jasper fired the cannon of calm at his brother. The change was instant, but Jasper knew that it wouldn't last long and then they would all be back where they started, so he took the opportunity to think about the most random thing he could imagine, a giant singing and dancing purple and green dinosaur on a date with an extra skinny woman with black hair and gold hoop earrings wearing a much too tight red dress. He felt Edward's confusion over the image, and finally realization swept over him seconds before Jasper collapsed to the floor from the effort of trying to hold on to too many things at once. Barney and Betty Boop on a date. That was as random as it got, and it had to be real. If it was fake, it would have been Barney and Betty Rubble.

"Bella!" Alice called outside to her best friend and sister. "Please tell me you have your shield back." She was now bent over Jasper's body, holding him as tightly as she could.

"I…I have it, but it's weak." She said as she slowly limped into the room and over to Edward's bedside. His eyes were roaming around the room, fighting to keep up with only legitimate thoughts long enough for Bella to act.

"Use it!" Alice ordered since she was the only one to have a voice at the moment.

Bella managed to get the protection up and around them with great effort. At this point, it was useless anyway, Winston had what he wanted. The Volturi had what they wanted. This battle was over. In Volterra, it was celebrated with a larger than normal group of tourists to feast upon. Winston of course got first pick.

In Forks, it was not celebrated at all. They were just glad to have survived. Once inside the shield, it was all they could do to lie still and breath out of habit. Occasionally, there would be a whisper as one mate called out to another, but none of them could move, they were all so drained from the effort of this last mental battle, one greater than the last, but not the final battle, and not the greatest they would ever face, the next one would be worse, and it might be the one to kill them, at least in spirit, and they all knew it.

It was this way, splayed out across the floor of Bella and Edward's cabin that Carlisle found his children when he returned from his hunt a short time later. Without thinking, he dashed away, and returned inside of a second with four very large bags of blood he had been keeping for an emergency such as this at the recommendation of Eleazar. He fed one bag each to each of his children. It was enough to get them on their feet, and without any words being exchanged, he understood that his children would tell him what tragedy had befallen them when they were ready. In the mean time, he needed to let them hunt, and then rest. He knew as well as they did that there would be more to come.


	13. Jasper's Great Mental Battle

**Author's Note: Thank you so much to all of my readers both old and new who have added this story to favorites and alerts and continued to support me over the past year! I hope you continue to follow the story and enjoy it!**

**Regardless of rather you like the story or not, please review it, and let me know why. It can only help me make it better. **

**There's only one chapter left in this fic, and hopefully it won't be too long before I can get it posted. And I do have a sequal planned! For those who are interested, I'm also working on an all-inclusive Stargate fic that will be my contribution to Gateworld's Stargate Rewatch Project. **

**Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it belongs to SM, everything else is mine. **

* * *

None of the Cullens were themselves in the days that followed one of Winston's attacks. They were all depressed, and worried. They were all concerned, and overly watchful. Someone, probably Esme, had placed an overseas call to Emmett and Rosalie to let them know what had happened. But the call had been overheard by Nessie, who later passed the information on to Cassie, and had caused the two girls to become more scared than they already were for their parents. They were no longer enjoying Scandinavia, and were so homesick, they had started begging to return to Forks. "I want to go home!" Nessie screamed at Emmett and stomped her foot to add emphasis to her demand. Rosalie had taken Cassie on a hunt to get her to calm down, and now Emmett was left to deal with who he now knew to be the more difficult of the two girls. Nessie was by far more stubborn, and not nearly as easily distracted. She took after her parents too much in that regard.

"We've been over this. It's too dangerous in Forks right now. Winston knows exactly where everyone there is at any given moment, and exactly what they are doing. He can choose any time he pleases to attack one of them by manipulating their abilities. What would happen if he manipulated Jasper with you in the room? If he got too angry, and couldn't handle it and struck out against anyone nearby, what would happen then? You're still half human, he could kill you so easily without even realizing that he was doing it. That's how intensely we feel things. I really don't expect you to understand that, but please, just take my word for it." Emmett insisted. He hated using his brother like that, but he knew that Jasper would have come up with the same example if he had been there.

"No, I don't believe you! Uncle Jasper would never do that! He gets angry, sometimes, I've seen it, but he could never hurt anyone, no matter how angry he got. Watch!" Nessie ordered, and placed her hand on Emmett's cheek, meaning to show him a confrontation she had witnessed between Jasper and one of the wolves. But when she placed her hand on Emmett's cheek, and thought of the incident, nothing happened. "That's strange. You didn't see anything did you?" Nessie asked slowly, as a horrified look came over her face.

"No. Should I have?" Emmett asked, oblivious.

"Yes, you should have! I can't do it, I can't make you see anything! Something's wrong! Winston's here! He stole my ability! That has to be it! I should be able to do it otherwise!" Nessie started to cry, her voice getting louder and shriller with each second. Emmett's jaw dropped in disbelief, and he froze in place, listening, unsure of what else to do at the moment.

"I don't hear anything. Winston can't be here. He's in Volterra. Just take a deep breath, Nessie, and try to calm down. Maybe you were doing something wrong. Try again. Try to make me see something." Emmett kept his voice low and soft, trying to ease the little girl's hysteria.

"I…I can't. Wait. Do you see it now?" Nessie said, pulling herself into a ball, deep against her Uncle Emmett's chest, keeping her hand against his cheek.

"Yes, I see it. Your mom and dad are talking to your Uncle Eleazar about Winston. I don't need to see that." He said as he gently took Nessie's wrist in order to remove her hand from his cheek.

"Wait!" Nessie insisted and firmly held her hand in place, refusing to allow Emmett to remove it. Eleazar was telling her dad that Winston would be only too happy to use Demetri's ability to seek out every vampire that Demetri had ever met, and steal any and all abilities that he could. "Demetri saw me that day they were all here. He didn't know that I had an ability, only Aro knows that from touching Dad's hand, and when I touched him, but he would have kept that to himself for sometime in the future when he needed it. That's what Grandpa Carlisle said, and that's why Winston is just now seeking me out. He must have been able to tell somehow that I had an ability, and decided to take it. He might not know who I am for sure, so he didn't see a need to torture me. You have to call my dad, and tell him what happened! They need to know. And by now, he could have Cassie's ability too!"

"I don't think so, he doesn't even know that Cassie exists, so he would have no reason to seek her out."

"But then what was his reason for seeking me out?"

"He might want to know if you're with Bella and Edward right now." Emmett said with a look of shock on his face as realization dawned on him. "He's planning an outright attack. He needs to know how many of the Cullens to expect. He's probably pegged me, you, and Rose as out of the country, so he knows he has fewer Cullens to contend with. I can't let them face Winston without me! Not if he's taking all these precautions now! We have to go home."

"See, that's what I've been saying all along, we need to go home!"

The door to the hotel room opened at that moment and an excited Cassie, danced gleefully into the room. She had learned all of the necessary graceful movements from Alice of course. "We're going home! Really?" She said happily.

"No, we're not going home. You didn't hear all of the conversation." Rosalie insisted calmly, but turned a hard, stern look on Emmett. "Tell her what you meant, Emmett. You may have said that 'we have to go home,' but that's not really what you meant, now was it?"

"Actually, Rosie, that's exactly what I meant." Emmett confessed. "But just hear me out. There was an incident while you were out hunting. Nessie thinks that Winston just stole her ability. If that's true, then he had to have been searching for her for a reason. What other reason would he have to search for her other than to make sure that she's not with Bella and Edward? Aro doesn't want her destroyed, so if Winston's going to attack in person, then he's going to do it when she's not around. Maybe that's what he was checking, and just stumbled on her ability, thankfully alerting us to his presence. Now, we just have to act on it. And the only way to act is by going home."

"No!" Rosalie said firmly. "We can't go home, especially if Winston is planning to attack in person, and at this point that is just your assumption, an assumption that I don't share. There has to be another explanation. Why does Nessie think that Winston stole it anyway?"

"She lost control of it for a few minutes."

"Only for a few minutes, that could be anything. It's probably nothing."

"But…"

"No buts about it, Emmett, we are not going home. As much as we want to be with the rest of the family right now and support them, we can't do it. It's our job, our only job, to protect Nessie and Cassie. We can't do that by taking them into the heart of battle. We have to stay here, where it's safe."

"What about Winston?"

"We'll call Edward and let him know what happened and see what he thinks, but we can't go home. Or if we do, then we can't decide on it ahead of time. Alice would see it and stop us. If we do go home, then we have to do it on impulse, and only if we think we can do it and keep the girls out of danger at the same time."

"My prized and most valued guard, Winston, do come in," Aro insisted when he heard the newest member of his guard approaching. "What is it I can do for you?"

"I have found the mind that you requested. She is in Scandinavia, and possesses a most interesting ability that I was able to acquire." Winston said absently, bored with Aro's silly games.

"I did not tell you to acquire her ability! But no matter, what is done is done. It may yet be useful. You did not torture her did you?"

"No, Aro, I did not, and not from lack of want to. Will you tell me now why she is so important?"

"No, I don't think that I will. And you are certain that Edward is still in Forks?"

"Yes, Aro, I am. He and most of the other minds Demetri specifically classified as Cullens are all in Forks."

"Good, good. That is very good. Everything is going according to plan, then. Pack your bag, and be in the dining hall in one hour. We leave for Forks just after dinner tonight." Aro's words were soft, but dangerous, and Winston took them as the order they were meant to be and left with a small bow to comply.

"I just got off the phone with Emmett and Rosalie." Edward said with a sigh as he plopped down into one of the chairs in Alice and Jasper's room, where the group had gathered for the evening.

"Did you get to talk to Nessie? Is she doing ok?" Bella asked concerned.

"No, I didn't talk to her, but Emmett said that she and Cassie are both still doing fine. But there was a…a complication this afternoon."

"Was it Cassie? Why wouldn't Emmett tell me himself if it was?" Jasper jumped into the conversation from his position next to Alice on the bed.

"No, it wasn't Cassie. It was Winston…maybe it was Winston."

"How? What happened? I haven't been able to see anything from the Volturi since that last incident." Alice's voice was slightly raised, but she fought to stay calm for Jasper's sake. Everyone in the house had been working extra hard not to display any extreme emotions in his presence since the last attack had drained him so much.

"Nessie lost control over her ability for a few minutes this afternoon. She was trying to show Emmett something, and couldn't. She thought that it was Winston taking it from her, but couldn't be sure, obviously. Maybe she just had a moment of weakness. It happens. But Emmett said that it was unsettling. If it was Winston, he might have been checking to see if Nessie was with us. Emmett thinks that Aro and Winston might be planning a personal attack, and wanted as few Cullens around as possible."

"No, I don't think so. If the Volturi were planning to attack us in person, they would want as many of us here as possible in order to eliminate us all in one shot. Aro might still be hoping that Nessie is young enough that he can make her learn to follow him. He might not want her around because she could get hurt during a mass annihilation." Jasper countered.

"So, really, we know nothing more than we did before." Alice summed.

"No, I believe Nessie. She knows her ability as well as any of us know ours. She wouldn't just lose it without some reason. I think Winston may have stolen her ability. He can use it to torture someone else very easily. Think of all the horrible things he's probably witnessed in Volterra. I think this was a planned attack." Bella offered another point of view in defense of her daughter.

"Again, I repeat, nothing more than we knew before. All of these are good possibilities and we have no way of knowing the truth. Nessie's ok, that's the important thing. If it was Winston, for whatever reason, he decided not to torture her. Let's just be thankful for that and move on. Ok?" Alice pleaded.

"Oh," Edward said looking sharply at the window. "Jasper, Alice, you have some visitors. Peter and Charlotte are outside. Peter's trying to decide rather to ring the door bell or just to wait until you come out."

"Really? Do you two mind if we go make up their minds for them?" Jasper asked, an obviously happy smile gracing his face.

"If it means seeing you smile like that all the time again, then, please go. I miss your happy moods." Bella admitted honestly.

"Are you sure you're ok? I can stay with y'all if I need to." Alice offered kindly.

"We're fine, Alice, go with Jasper. We'll see you sometime tomorrow." Edward insisted.

"Ok, good night." Alice said as she stood and gave both Bella and Edward a hug before following Jasper out the window.

"What are you two lingering around out here for?" Jasper asked playfully as he approached his two best friends outside the Cullen family home.

"We weren't sure if now was the best time…I kind of know that something's going on, and didn't want to interrupt if it wasn't a good time for a visit," Peter said almost awkwardly, trading glances with his fellow soldier.

"Peter, it's never a bad time to see you. Let's go for a run, and talk. I…I should have probably called before now. I figured that you'd know something was up sooner or later. You always do…just know." Jasper admitted.

"Sure, a run sounds nice. Coming Char?"

"You two go ahead. I'll wait for Alice and we'll catch up." Charlotte promised with a smile.

The two men took off at a slow jog for them, not wanting to get too far ahead of the girls. "So, are you waiting for Alice? Or do I have pull teeth to get you to spill?" Peter demanded without any other fanfare. "I know stuff, remember? So, I know that the Volturi are involved somehow, and that you're in big trouble, like end of existence kind of trouble, but other than that, I'm clueless. What did you do to end up back on their radar anyway? And whatever happened to that kid that Alice was going to see at the hospital a while back? You told me that Carlisle was trying to treat her with some kind of venom and beer solution, but you never told me what happened."

"We changed her," Jasper admitted easily.

"Changed? As in, she's a vamp now! And you didn't even tell me, unbelievable!"

"Hey, sorry, I've been busy, and it's not exactly a topic for a five minute phone call. Hey, how's it going? By the way, I'm an adopted father now… Besides, it all happened so fast, I was only thinking about Cassie, and trying to make sure she got through the newborn thing as easily as possible. I know you could have helped, but it would have been a new element for her, and she doesn't trust easily."

"Ok, fine. But you could have still told me. I take it that means the venom and beer thing didn't work? And when am I going to get to meet your daughter?"

"It helped some. But in Cassie's case the cancer had just spread too far. Carlisle's holding out hope for it though. Maybe someday D double V solution will work to cure everything, not just cancer. And you'll get to meet her soon enough. She's in Scandinavia with Nessie, Emmett and Rosalie for a little while right now."

"Fair enough. So, is that why I sense that the Volturi are involved? They found out about Cassie and think that she's too young?"

"No, they still don't know about her."

"Then, what's going on?"

"The Volturi never forgave us for embarrassing them the last time they were here. They've been planning revenge ever since, and they just got the one tool added to their arsenal that may just make it possible."

"Riddles."

"Sorry, a new member of the guard whose ability is to steal other vampire's abilities."

"Whoa! Like that Sylar dude in that show _Heroes_?"

"Kind of. Only Winston's real, and he doesn't have to kill to steal the ability. Oh, and thanks to Demetri, he doesn't even have to be close by. Apparently, Aro had him steal Demetri's ability first, and now Winston can find anyone on the planet that Demetri has ever had in his database, including all of us, except for Bella. And once we're found, he can steal our ability. He has mine, Edward's, and Alice's already. And possibly Bella's and Nessie's. They were never manipulated, so we don't know for sure."

"Wait, back up, how could he steal Bella's ability if he can't even find her?"

"That, I don't know. It's possible that when he was manipulating Edward, his mind sensed the presence of another vampire nearby with an ability. Bella's shield at the time was already weak, but then she lost it completely. That's what happens when Winston steals an ability. The original vampire can't use it for a short time after. So, again, not sure if Bella lost it because she was already weakened, or if it's because Winston was somehow able to steal it."

"I still don't get it, but moving on, you said something about manipulation?"

"Yeah, that's right. Not only can Winston steal an ability, but he can manipulate it too. I have never felt more anger, or more despair, as when Winston was manipulating me. I couldn't pinpoint the source for it, that's how I knew it was Winston manipulating me. Didn't make it any easier to get past it though."

"You were manipulated? And had your ability stolen? And yet you're fine now? I'm confused. Did he keep it, or does he have to steal it back again next time he wants to use it?"

"Yes I was manipulated, yes my ability was stolen, yes I'm fine now, my ability is still intact, and I'm no longer being manipulated, and he keeps all the abilities he steals. And honestly, I'm confused too. And I've experienced it. I don't know how he manages to do what he does. But suffice it to say that he creates an individual mental torture for everyone he possibly can, either in person, or over Demetri's ability."

"Mental torture? But you think Bella may be immune?"

"We don't know that for sure. We assumed that she was because Winston affects the mind so strongly, but when he steals an ability, it's affecting the physical reality of the other vampire, so we really aren't positive either way."

Peter shook his head from side to side, overwhelmed by all the new information that his best friend was sharing. "What exactly do you know, then?"

"That it's bad, Peter, very bad, and very scary. And something that I hope never happens to any of us again."

"What's happened so far? And I mean specifically."

"Alice was trapped for hours in a vision that she couldn't get out of. A horrible vision that she can't talk about with anyone without falling apart, a vision that will never come true, never had any hope of ever coming true. Edward was paralyzed from hearing thoughts that weren't there, and I…I almost lost it. Not even Alice knows how close I came to crashing and broadcasting all of Winston's made up emotions to everyone within a 10 mile radius. We're falling apart, and we haven't even fought a real battle."

"Why not? Why haven't you just gone and kicked some Volturi rear end?"

"We can't do that, Peter. You know that. They would win. We have to fight this one against Winston, and do it his way, mentally."

"Char and I are going to hang out here for a little while. We're going to be here for as long as you need us. I can help you train. You know, feed you emotions, and let you battle them for a little while, plan horribly despicable things to do to you to haunt Alice, and come up with some dastardly thoughts in Edward's presence."

"Thank you for that, Peter, really, I mean it, thank you." Jasper said sincerely. "But it won't compare to what Winston can do, unlike you, he doesn't have a conscience, he will cross every line that I know you never would. Although, I could still use the friend, and I know that Charlotte will be good for Alice, so please, do stay. Just, if you're going help us train, then I have something else to add to your list, something I'm trying not to tell the others about in case I can't make it work. But I'm trying to filter all the negative emotions in an area into one form, either inside me, or inside a willing participant. If I can isolate the negative, then it'll be easier to increase the positive. Does that make sense?"  
"Not really, but I'm going with it. And I don't think that I like where it's headed. You're going to ask if you can send all that negative junk to me, aren't you?"

"Yes. Can I? It has to go somewhere, and if I'm bogged down by it, then I can't help Alice, Edward, and Bella stay positive or calm or whatever the situation calls for."

"Fine. Just try not to make it too negative. Char would kill me if she knew I was letting you do this."

"No, she wouldn't. As long as you have the bad stuff, then I'll have more than enough good stuff to send to her to prevent any lost limbs."

"I hope you're right about that."

"Are you guys talking about me?" Charlotte asked as she and Alice ran to catch up to the two guys.

"Always, darling." Peter teased with a smile before giving his wife a small peck on the lips.

"Charlotte, your eyes look different." Jasper observed. "They're less red…"

"Yeah, I've been trying a slightly different diet lately. Not every hunt, of course, but maybe every third or fourth hunt, I try eating tofu, no salads yet. Carnivores, not herbivores, in other words," Charlotte explained timidly.

"Char, that's great!" Jasper exclaimed and paused mid-gait to bend over and give his friend a big hug. "I knew you could do it. Just keep working at it, it gets easier, I promise."

Alice smiled behind her husband's back. It wasn't that long ago that she was telling him the same thing. The four spent the rest of the evening hunting and catching up with each other's lives. The conversation naturally gravitated toward Cassie, and then back to Charlotte's new dietary restrictions, and before anyone realized how late it had gotten, the sun had started to rise, and they had to run as fast as they could back to the Cullen home to avoid being seen in the open on a rare sunny day by a human.

By mid-afternoon, most of the Cullens had gone their separate ways, and Jasper had settled down in the living room in front of the big screen TV, the first one in a long time to survive more than three months in the Cullen home, mostly thanks to Emmett's absence. "What are you watching?" Alice asked as she came up behind Jasper and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"The NASA channel." He replied simply.

"Really, why?"

"Uh, would believe that it's for the pretty graphics?"

"Nope."

"Ok. I just needed to think and I really don't like anything else that's on. Even if I'm just going to end up tuning it out, I still like something interesting in the background."

"Understandable. So, what are you thinking about?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." He teased and gave Alice a mischievous smile before flipping her around so that they were facing each other. "Didn't see that coming, did you?" He laughed as he leaned in to gently kiss his wife.

Alice accepted the gift happily, knowing that it was Peter and Charlotte's surprise visit that had put her husband in such a playful mood. She was glad for it, but there was still something going on inside of her stubborn soldier's mind, and she would get him to tell her about it. "Don't shut me out, Jazz, please." Alice begged him.

"I'm not intentionally shutting you out, I promise. There are just some things that I'm trying to deal with and I'm not sure how to let you in on them. For now, it's for me to deal with. I promise I will let you in when I know better how to do so."

"Let me in now. I love you enough to try to understand even if you aren't even sure about all of it yourself."

"And I love you enough to try, and trust you to do your best, but I'm still not entirely sure how to voice everything in my head."

"Just…let me feel you then. You've been hiding yourself, your emotions from me ever since Winston's last attack. Please, let me feel you, and I'm sure that I can figure out the rest."

"Ok. But I'm warning you, it's very dark." Jasper finally gave in, and at Alice's nod, closed his eyes in an effort to allow himself to broadcast his emotions freely to Alice. He heard Alice gasp as the complexity of his inner demons hit her, but surprisingly, she didn't reach out to touch him like she normally would. Cracking one eye open, he discovered her reason for not reaching to him. She was trapped in a vision, the look on her face impossibly blank. She hadn't felt Jasper at all. She had only seen her vision, and that was the cause for her reaction. Jasper tensed involuntarily, and looked for signs of distress on his love's face that would let him know rather or not this vision was some kind of trick courtesy of Winston. He felt useless, like he always did when she was having a serious vision. He reached out to her and pulled her into a tight embrace against his body, the one thing that he did know how to do.

Finally, the vision came to an end, and Jasper gave his wife a kind look before kissing the top of her head gently. "What did you see, my love? Was it Winston?"

"No. Us. I saw us. You were holding me and we looked like we were in pain, but we were drawing strength from each other, and I think Nessie was in the background."

"Nessie? What? That makes no sense. Was there anything else?"

"Before the one of us. Carlisle. He was holding an envelope, but I didn't see the contents of it. I don't know what it means, Jazz. The details were very unclear, but I'll keep looking. Maybe something more will come to me."

"Don't. Don't keep looking. Don't open yourself up to Winston that way."

"But we need to know."

"No, we don't. We will make do with learning things as they happen. There would be no way to prepare, even if you did know. Now, I believe, we were in the middle of something." With that, Jasper pulled Alice close again and started to kiss her, gently and lightly, then deeper and more passionately.

"Hmmm…" Alice sighed in contentment. "As much as I would like to continue this, Char and I are going shopping. It's finally cloudy enough for us to get out of the house, and I'm not letting her come all this way without us checking out the sales. I'll see you in a few hours." She winked, and before he could protest, she danced away.

The girls hadn't been gone long when Peter found Jasper and dragged him off the couch to go hunting. About three miles into Canada, Peter paused and took a deep breath, a huge smile spreading across his face. "Mmmm…smell that?" He cooed with a look in Jasper's direction.

"Black bear. Pretty tasty." Jasper approved of Peter's choice in dinning.

"No, I'm talking about the lost hiker about a mile south of the black bear. Smells like cherries. You don't smell it?"

"No. I smell the black bear. Humans…humans aren't really an issue for me anymore."

"Really? When did this happen?"

"I'm not sure. Sometime after meeting Cassandra. She was the first human I wasn't tempted by. The cancer made her blood smell…wrong. Now, I'm just not tempted by humans at all. I can't explain it. Just don't make a big deal about it. Alice is the only other one that knows. She saw me coming across a couple of lost kids in the woods, one of which was badly injured. I carried him back to town, and the girl followed. I wasn't bothered by their scent at all. Then it happened, that was a couple weeks ago. So, I'll race you to the black bear!" Jasper challenged and took off in a dead run.

Peter shook his head at the impossible story, and ran south, toward the hiker who smelled like cherries.

On the way back to Forks, Peter was again the first to speak. "So, you know if you ever chicken out, and decide that you want to go ahead and fight these guys for real, not just mentally or whatever, you can call me right?" He stumbled over his offer to help Jasper in a physical fight against the Volturi if there ever should be one. He wouldn't be any good at the mental stuff, especially since he didn't have a real ability for Winston to steal, but he was a seasoned pro at hand to hand. "And you know that Charlotte and I won't be far if you…if you need us for anything else before that, right?" He added as an afterthought, knowing that while they did still plan to stay in Forks a few more days, they would eventually have to move on.

"Yes, I know all that," Jasper said, finally, taking pity on his long time friend's awkwardness. "And I really appreciate it. I'm sure that all of us appreciate it, more than we can really say. Trust me, you'll be my first call if it comes to a battle of might."

"Good to know."

"Now, can we pick up the pace a little. I kind of want to get back to my wife. And I'm sure that Charlotte needs rescuing from my little pixie by now, too."

"You're probably right," Peter agreed with a short life.

When they returned to the Cullen home, they found Alice and Charlotte had beat them back, and the entire clan had gathered in the living room. "What's going on?" Jasper questioned as he tried to read the mixture of emotions in the room. They varied greatly, ranging from Esme, who was worried more than anything else, to Alice, who was anxious, but reservedly so. He followed her line of sight to a plain white envelope laying open on the coffee table, and a single white sheet of paper sticking out of the torn edge of the envelope.

"I received a letter from Aro." Carlisle took the lead in speaking.

Jasper stiffened visibly at the news, but didn't say anything further.

"He was announcing that he was coming for a visit. He would like for me and my family to meet him, his brothers, and the guard in the clearing where we met before. I called Eleazar. He feels that this may be it. Winston's one and only chance to battle us face to face."

Jasper was silent as he took time to process the news. He turned to Peter first. "Peter, it's been great seeing you again, it really has…but maybe you and Charlotte…"

"Forget it!" Peter interrupted harsher than he had intended. "We're part of your family. We're staying."

"Alright. Thank you." There was silence in the room for the rest of the night, everyone processing the new reality in their own way.

"It's time." Alice finally announced about mid-day. No one had to speak, they all knew what was coming, and no one was fully prepared, but they were out of time. They all continued to remain silent as they made their way to the clearing. Carlise was leading the group, followed by Edward, Jasper, Alice and Peter, and finally Bella, flanked on either by side by Esme and Charlotte. They would stand united against the Volturi, a true family, unlike the faux familiarity that the so called royals attempted to portray.

Much like the last time the two groups encountered each other in the clearing, the Cullens arrived first, and waited for the floating cloud that was the Volturi brothers and guard, traveling together as one like a well rehearsed marching band. And again, like the first time, they stopped some great distance away, but not so far as to be out of reach if the situation called for attack. Wordlessly, Carlise separated himself from the group, and headed for the middle to meet Aro, who had also separated himself from his group. "Carlisle, my dearest friend." Aro crooned as he stretched his hand out to the Cullen patriarch. Carlisle took the offered hand wordlessly, and a silent conversation began between the two men as Aro read Carlisle's every thought. "Another child. How can this be? No, not like the other, this one is fully immortal. But I also see that she is older, and can control herself. But she isn't here. That is too bad, I should have much liked to see her." Aro licked his lips, thoughtfully. "Always down to business I see. Very well, have it your way."

"I do not want a battle." Carlisle said aloud for the benefit of the others. "But if that is all that you will respond to, then I am prepared. And so is my family."

"Only, you are missing some who would be quite valuable in battle."

"That is not your concern. Please, Aro, dear friend, state your purpose for this meeting."

"As you can see, we brought no witnesses this time. What happens here, stays between our two clans forever."

"Very well."

"It is time that we settled our differences once and for all. We propose a one on one battle. One of your clan against one of my guard. If you win, and only if you win, will my brothers and I agree to leave you alone and unharmed. If we win, we will kill you all and be done with it. When the others return from their trip, we will kill them too. There is no room for infighting in our world. There can be only one ruling clan and either it is mine or it is yours. It can be no one else's."

"I have no desire to make my family the ruling clan. I respect you too much for that, friend."

"Indeed you do. I can see that. But that is not how the rest of our world sees it after the last time. You embarrassed us greatly then. And rumors have started about the power you showed over us. While we know your true intentions, the others do not. Therefore, we must put the rumors to rest. The only way to do that is by killing you. Or at least by having one of my guard kill one of your family, before we kill the rest of them, and if they should kill each other, then another battle would be held to determine the winner."

"And what if we win. What will that do for the rumors?"

"You won't win. And on the off chance that you do, then we'll be back another day, my dear friend."

Carlise met Aro's eyes. It was hard to think of him as anything other than an enemy, given what he was now telling him. "We accept the challenge."

"Good, good!" Cried Aro, and joyfully licked his lips as if he could already taste victory. "Winston!" he called in a commanding tone without looking back at the line of Volturi.

Carlise could almost feel his family gasp and stop breathing as he watched one of the largest vampires he had ever seen emerge from the Volturi lines. He was even bigger than Felix, and that was saying something. But it wasn't just Winston's size that made him so immediately intimidating, it was the knowledge of the pain and suffering that he had already caused his family.

"No!" he could hear Alice scream from somewhere behind him, but he refused to turn and face his family. This was his battle, he could never ask his children to face Winston alone. He would fight this final battle himself. The Volturi had always called him an oddity for this very sort of behavior. He didn't realize until too late however, that Alice hadn't called out because of him.

Several things happened all at once in the next few seconds, it was impossible to separate one occurrence from another. Emmett and Rosalie emerged from the trees, followed closely by Nessie and Cassie. They had left Scandinavia and returned to Forks just in time to witness this last battle. It was assumed by the others that they had gone by the house first and upon finding it empty had followed their scents here. Carlisle wanted to cry at their presence. He was thankful to see them doing well, but really didn't want the girls there to witness what was about to become of him. There would be more time to talk about that later, he hoped. For now, he just had to deal with having the last four members of his family around. Even if it was just to watch him be killed.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and watched in horror as Alice missed grabbing her husband's arm by mere millimeters to hold him back, and now the love of her life was headed straight for Carlisle. He could feel Jasper's hand on his shoulder now, pulling him out of the way, off the field of battle. "No, Carlisle. I can't let you do this. He's too strong for you. I'll be the one to fight him."

"Jasper, it's my responsibility." Carlisle started to protest.

"No, it's not, let me do this."

Carlisle knew that Jasper was right. Out of everyone gathered, he had the best chance of beating Winston both physically and mentally. He was a better fighter than Emmett, and his ability couldn't be as easily manipulated as Alice's or Edward's, or least that's what Carlisle thought.

"Oh, this isn't going to be good," Edward said to himself as he watched the exchange between Carlisle and Jasper.

"Daddy?" Nessie asked uncertainly as she reached for her father's hand and squeezed it tightly.

Edward looked down at his daughter's concerned face, and not knowing what else to do, he lifted the girl into his arms and held her close, wanting to shield her innocent eyes from whatever was going to happen next. "Why couldn't they have waited one more day? Why did they have to bring you back now?" He whispered into his daughter's hair. But from Emmett and Rosalie's thoughts, he knew it really wasn't their fault. The girls had begged them to take them home. He looked over to see Alice bending down to Cassandra's level and trying to keep her eyes shielded, similar to how he was shielding Nessie. "Whatever happens…" he whispered quickly to her.

"I know," she answered just as quickly. "What's he planning? What is Winston going to do to my husband? All I can see is that it's bad."

"I can't read him." Edward admitted sadly.

"Bella?" Alice said looking at her sister.

"I know, I know, I'm working on it." Bella said in a frustrated tone. And she was, but Winston had already stolen her ability, and was using it against them. There was nothing she could do to stop him now. The theory about her shield being a physical ability to be stolen had been confirmed, unfortunately.

"He can handle himself. It'll be fine. It has to be." Peter said trying to convince the other Cullens that Jasper knew what he was doing. "Now, stop worrying so that he can concentrate."

Maybe it was a father's instinct, but for whatever reason, after stopping Carlisle from committing himself to a battle he couldn't win, Jasper turned his head just in time to see Rosalie and his daughter join the rest of the family, followed by Emmett and Nessie. He watched as Nessie went to Edward and Cassie went to Alice. Wonderful, now everyone was there to witness his last battle. "Cassie. Why does she have to be here for this." He said in little more than a sigh. The Volturi didn't even notice the newcomers, and not even Winston heard his nearly silent words. "I'm sorry you have to see this, my daughter, I love you." Jasper snapped his head back in Winston's direction and steeled his features, prepared for whatever attack would come his way.

Aro laughed to himself as he watched Winston and Jasper take their places at opposite ends of the meadow. "Make a note of this for the history books, Jane. We shall call it _Jasper's Great Mental Catastrophe_." He faux whispered the words to the young woman two paces in front of him. "Let the showdown to begin!" he called loudly, almost laughingly.

Winston wasted no time in preparing his attack, and simply launched it. He called upon the abilities of Alec and Zafrina to first blind and numb Jasper, and then to give him the most horrible vision imaginable, people, children, suffering and dying. The only way out was for Jasper to kill the humans, and Winston knew that he would never do that. He used Jasper's own ability against him to make him feel the pain, suffering, and despair, fear, and loathing that the humans in the false vision were feeling. Then, finally, he used Kate and Jane's abilities to make Jasper suffer physically. The poor Civil War veteran was already overcome and on his knees. It was only too easy to go to him and touch him and use Nessie's ability to make him see all of the tragedies of Volterra that he had seen.

On the Cullen side of the battle, Esme and Charlotte had both collapsed from watching Jasper suffer so much and not being able to go to him. The small amounts of comfort that Carlisle and Peter were trying to offer them didn't help assuage their own pain at all. They could hear Alice's quiet, repetitive whisper of, "Use me, Jasper, use me." Only Peter knew what the cryptic message meant. And then he felt it, a wave of emotional turmoil and pain. He growled at the new sensations, but remained rooted to his spot, more than willing to help Jasper in whatever small way that he could. He chanced a glance at the other Cullens, and noticed that they were all feeling to some degree the pain that Jasper was feeling. Maybe Jasper wasn't doing this on purpose after all, maybe it was simply leaking out and broadcasting beyond his control.

On the Volturi battle lines, evil smiles of wicked victory were exchanged, and they were only too eager to watch Jasper suffer more and more until he broke, and finally be relieved of his existence by the sweet flame and purple colored smoke. They, of course, were somehow being protected by another ability Winston had managed to acquire and didn't feel anything that Jasper was.

Jasper was essentially paralyzed. He was in pain and he was watching others suffer and couldn't do anything about it. He had lost before even getting the chance to fight back. He was as good as gone, it was only a matter of time until Winston grew bored of torturing him and would end him once and for all. As if he deserved any better after the crimes he had committed under Maria. Winston was using him again, he was feeding him depression, and Jasper knew it, but he didn't have the energy to fight it.

It was then that he remembered Cassandra, and her ability. Immediately, he switched from filtering his negative emotions into Alice and Peter and filtered them in Cassie's direction instead, praying that her mirror ability was strong enough to handle it. The last thing that he wanted to do was to hurt Cassie. Just in case, he started off slowly and easily, and fought Winston's manipulation long enough to monitor only his daughter. When Cassie didn't react, Jasper pushed everything he had at her, and smiled gleefully when there was still no reaction from her, she was simply reflecting everything away from herself without feeling the pain. Jasper stood from his crouched position and moved toward where he estimated Winston to be. He was still blind from Alec's stolen ability, and in pain from Jane's ability, but he fought through it because he had to. Surely he had felt worse at some point in his long existence. In seconds, he had his hands around Winston's throat. He could feel Winston using Kate's ability to shock him, but somehow managed to breathe through the pain. If he was human, he would be sweating with the effort, and his heart would be pounding out of his chest. Just a few more seconds, he told himself, squeezing Winston's neck ever harder. 3…2...1…snap. Winston's decapitated head fell to the ground with a loud thud. Less than a second later, Jasper followed it, exhausted. He heard the stunned gasps and hisses from the Volturi, and the concerned gasps from his own family. Five seconds after that, he could feel himself being cradled in Alice's arms, and could hear Aro saying something in the background. "He has failed. Winston, my prize guardsman has failed. You may do with him what is just now. It is your right." One second later, he could smell the burning vampire flesh, and knew that it was Carlisle who had lit the fire. The greatest mental battle was over, and Jasper was victorious. The Cullens were victorious. But their recovery from the wounds Winston had inflicted would be a long time in healing.


	14. Back to Normal Almost

**Author's Note: Here it is, the last chapter! Better late than never. Sorry, it's taken me so long to get it out here, but I wanted it to be perfect, and I absolutely love the way it turned out. I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as I liked writing it. Please let me know what you think of the work as a whole, as well as this chapter individually. And thank you so much to everyone who has been so loyal in reading this story despite the slow updates. **

**The sequal has been started and will definately be posted here sometime in the next couple weeks. The title for those who are interested in watching for it will be "Solid Rock and Sinking Sand." It will be set 20 years after TFWW ends, but I promise I will fill in the blanks of what happened during the interlude. Reviewers may just recieve a sneak peak.**

**Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine.**

* * *

Alice found it hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago her beloved husband had been fighting for his life and lives of their entire family. She knew there would be some who, even if told the story of his encounter with Winston, wouldn't believe that his life was ever truly at stake. After all, there was no real fighting, no punches thrown, no kicks, no physical scars. There were only the things that couldn't be seen by anyone other the two involved in the battle. Alice doubted that she would ever really know the full extent of the torture that Jasper had undergone to save the family from certain death by the Volturi. But she had felt a small part of it with him. He hadn't been able to keep himself from broadcasting the terrible emotions that Winston had been feeding him. And the whole family had felt it. She had already tried to work on damage control and made the rest of the family promise not to tell him what they felt. It would only make him feel more guilty than he already did for intentionally sending it to her and Peter, and in the end, to Cassandra. Only those who really knew Jasper would ever fully understand what those emotions must have been doing to him to force him to let them leak out like that. He was truly fighting for his life, fighting to breathe, fighting past unimaginable horrors just to survive and ensure the safety of all.

Jasper still wasn't fully recovered from his mental battle with Winston, but he was getting stronger with each additional hour that passed. He had hunted almost as soon as he could stand after the battle. She, Peter and Charlotte had followed him to make sure that he was ok. Edward and Bella would have followed as well if Carlisle hadn't ordered them to stay behind to make sure that the Volturi made good on their promise to leave without further incident.

Alice wasn't sure if Jasper would ever be the same again after what had happened with Winston. But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. A vision of Jasper as an ER doctor filled her mind. It would have been an impossible situation just a few months ago. But after everything that had happened, Cassie coming into their lives, the mental attacks against her and Edward, and Jasper ultimately having to be the one to face off against Winston, now the vision was a possibility. Edward and Rosalie had both done it before, and now it was Jasper's turn to prove that a vampire doesn't have to be all bad, they can save human lives rather than take them. The vision continued, showing other ways in which Jasper's battle with Winston had changed him, changed his attitudes, and ultimately his role in the world. Jasper would be the epitome of Carlisle's all vamps can be a vegetarian campaign, and he would never slip again, never even be tempted to slip again. His control over his thirst would rival that of Carlisle's, perhaps even surpass it, if such a thing was possible. He would never have to be afraid of hurting another human again. It would be completely unfeasible for him to do so with this new attitude and control.

"We should check on Cassandra. She's been through a lot," Alice said absently as she cuddled deeper into Jasper's arms.

Jasper nodded just as distractedly, but didn't say anything. Before Alice had a chance to move, however, their door swung open to reveal a very tired looking Edward and an exhausted Bella.

"Hey, it's over, we won. I'd expect to feel a little more of a return of that new found love glow coming from you two," Jasper teased the newest Cullen couple.

"I guess it's disappeared to the same place as yours. Swallowed by the passage of time." Edward teased back.

"Don't worry, it won't take long for us all to get it back." Alice smiled knowingly, and the smile quickly spread to the other faces in the room.

"Jasper?" Bella started to ask in a suddenly serious tone, but waited for her brother to look up at her before continuing. "I know it's a little soon for this and everything, but Renesmee…She's been asking a lot of questions. Edward and I have told her what we can, but…will you talk to her? In a few days, I mean, when things settle down a bit more, and you're ready to. I wouldn't have asked, but Renesmee seems to think that you know something that Edward and I don't."

Jasper held up a single hand to stop Bella's rambling. "I'll talk to her. You really didn't even have to ask. There are things that she should hear from me. And I would rather it didn't wait, as long as that's ok with you, of course. In fact, before you say anything, there's something I need to tell the two of you, and the sooner I do it, the better." Taking an unnecessary breath, Jasper plunged ahead with what he knew would be the first of a string of difficult conversations. "I'm sorry, deeply sorry to both of you for making you live through that. I should have tried harder to focus everything on Winston, and should not have projected so much to the rest of the family." Alice saw that Edward was about to interrupt and sent him a mental warning to let Jasper get everything out first. "I know Alice probably made you promise to deny it, but I know better. In the state I was in, even what I was trying to purposefully send to her must have gone everywhere. So, I'm sorry that I hurt you guys. But I also want to thank you. Thank you for being there for me. I don't think that I would have made it through this without all of your support. It's too bad that Peter and Char left before I could tell them the same thing. As soon as they saw I was ok, and getting something to eat, they split…again." There was a tinge of sadness in his voice as he spoke about his oldest friends.

When no one spoke for several seconds, Edward broke the silence by clapping Jasper on the shoulder. "You've come a long way, bro. We all know you didn't want to hurt us and I know that you know that you couldn't have done anything differently and still defeated Winston. If anything, Jasper, we all owe you a debt of gratitude that can probably never be repaid. If you hadn't defeated Winston, then the Volturi would have killed us, or forced us to join them. Now, as it is, we've established ourselves in our own right. They won't try anything against us for a very long time, if ever again. They'll know that it will be futile. We've proven ourselves now, thanks to you."

Jasper nodded gratefully at Edward's encouragement. A slow smile started to spread across his face. "I'll go talk to Renesmee now."

As he left the room, Bella happily planted herself on the bed next to Alice in his place. "So, I believe that someone promised me an in depth review of other real mythological beings."

"Right, where did you want to start?" Alice conceded, making herself comfortable for what she knew was sure to be an interesting conversation.

"Wizards!" Bella announced after less than a second of pondering.

Edward, who still hadn't moved from his spot in the doorway, started to laugh loudly at his wife's declaration. "Ha. The only thing you need to know about Wizards is rules. They have a lot of rules."

"What sort of rules?" Bella asked her love eagerly.

At the same moment Alice rolled her eyes and told Edward, "Hey, she said she wanted to know about them, and there's more to Wizards than just rules. There's their terrible sense of fashion, for one."

While Alice and Edward continued to educate Bella on the ways of Wizards, Jasper was teaching Renesmee about something completely different. "I don't understand why it had to be you." The young half-vampire admitted.

"Because it couldn't have worked any other way. Aro insisted on a one on one battle. If your mom had gone up against Winston, it wouldn't have worked. It would have been like bouncing two balloons together. Her shield can be stolen by Winston, but it can't be manipulated by him. She would have been immune to half the abilities he had acquired. He could have tried tricking her emotions into making her believe that it was safe to lower her shield long enough to let him inside, and then he could have moved in with Jane's and Kate's abilities, but to what end? Winston gets a high off of using a vampire's ability against them. He couldn't have done that with your mom. He would have refused the dual because it wouldn't have been any fun for him. Besides, your mom wouldn't have been able to do anything against him either. Your dad and my Alice would have been in a similar situation. There's plenty that Winston could do to torture them, but both of their abilities are passive in nature. They would have been able to resist his manipulations and come out of it in one piece, but they wouldn't have been able to actively do anything against him. In my case, I could counter whatever he did to me. My ability is subtle, but powerful. It's both active and passive. In a one on one battle, it's best to have an active fighter on your side. And for that, sometimes, subtle is better."

Renesmee reached up and touched her uncle's cheek to replay a few of the most intense moments of the mental battle complete with her feelings at the time. Fear. Intense fear.

Jasper sighed and offered the girl a tired smile. "I'm sorry that I scared you. And I'm sorry that you had to witness all that. And most of all, I'm sorry that you had to feel everything along with me. I tried to avoid that, but I failed. It must have been very difficult for you at the time, but it's all over now, and I know you're not scared anymore. Nervous, yes. Worried, yes. But the fear's gone. Fear's funny like that. It always leaves us as quick as it comes. It doesn't linger past its immediate usefulness."

Renesmee's grin grew wide and she let Jasper feel all the rest of the emotions she was keeping hidden inside of her. Relief. Joy. Wonder. Awe. Admiration. Forgiveness. Encouragement. Thankfulness. Jasper was overcome by the buffet of emotions that the small girl was feeling. "Thank you for that," he whispered quietly to her and backed it up by sending a wave of contentment and peace her way.

"Uncle Jasper, I think you need to talk to Aunt Rose about this. It'll help her understand too." Nessie told the older man honestly.

Jasper was taken aback slightly at the suggestion. He knew that there were many members of the family he would have to talk to about what had happened, but Rose was at the bottom of the list as far as he knew. In his opinion, Rose, of everyone, would be the most willing to accept what had happened without needing further explanations. "Rosalie? Why? She knows what had to happen," he finally managed to say, but was interrupted by Nessie's hand on his cheek. The young girl had apparently overheard a conversation between Rosalie and Emmett. One that wasn't meant to be overheard and the words that his sister was sharing in confidence with his brother and her mate were hurtful and difficult for him to hear. But somehow, a part of Jasper understood why she said the things that she did, but he wasn't sure that he could change her thinking in just one conversation. Her words sprang from a very deep place in her soul, and he knew that it was a long time struggle that she faced with that part of who she was. He was surprised that he had never her talk about it out loud before. He could only feel what she did in the rare cases that she allowed her emotions to travel to that dark place. And Emmett would never betray anything that she told him in private.

Sensing that Jasper fully understood what she was trying to convey to him, Nessie removed her hand and gave her uncle a small smile. "She needs to hear it. Cassandra thinks so too."

"I'm not even going to ask how the two of you managed to overhear a private conversation like that without getting caught. But I would imagine that it's one of those times when being a child has its benefits. What you overheard, I don't know if it's going to be as simple as me opening up to her about this a little more to help her heal, but I will try talking to her. But if she doesn't want to listen, I can't make her."

"That you try is all I ask. I don't like it when she's like that. I don't like it when any of you are. Thank you, uncle Jasper." Nessie leaned in to give the Civil War Rebel a tight hug and a tiny kiss on the cheek. She slowly let him go, knowing that he had more people to talk to, and it was time for her to try to get some sleep.

Walking out of Renesmee's room, Jasper couldn't stop the small chuckle when he heard Edward, Alice, and Bella's conversation. Apparently, Bella was learning about the only wizard family the Cullen's knew, the Russo family. Unfortunately, he was a man on a mission and couldn't stop to join the conversation, and to correct the errors that Edward was making in the story. If he didn't talk to Rosalie now, he might lose his resolve to do so. It wasn't hard to find Rose. She was in the garage as usual. It was the one place that she considered to be hers. "Hey, Jasper." Rose greeted him when he approached Emmett's jeep. Looking down, Jasper could see her legs sticking out from underneath it as she worked. "If you're here about Alice's Porsche, then it's not done yet. There's still a couple dents I need to bang out and I really don't think she should drive it until…"

Jasper didn't need to hear the rest, and interrupted before Rosalie could tell him about the very specific Canary paint color that she had to special order from a shop in Belgium. Instead, he bent down and pulled Rose out from under the jeep by her ankles. "I'm not here about the car, Rose."

"Oh. Then, what's up?"

Jasper had to laugh at the casual question. "I guess we really have started to talk more like modern humans since meeting Bella."

"You wanted to talk about my language habits? That's a new one."

Jasper chuckled again. "No. I actually wanted to talk to you about Winston." He swallowed at the harsh anger coming from Rose at the mention of the guard's name. Clearly this topic was one that should have been talked about sooner rather than later. "I need to know what you think about everything, now that it's over. Your feelings have been all over the place, more so than usual, and Nessie overheard something that you were telling Emmett that has me a little concerned. She didn't mean to, but you know how it is in this house. I need you to talk to me about this, Rosalie. There's no point in trying to hide anything. You and I both know that the longer you deny things, the harder it gets."

Rosalie briefly considered ordering Jasper out of her garage, and demanding that he never mention Winston to her again that it was over and done, but the look on his face told her that it wouldn't do any good. They had this conversation before. He was the only one, besides Emmett, she could trust to talk to about things like this, her feelings. It helped that he already knew what she was feeling, and not just the persona she tried to portray to everyone else. He was her true brother in every sense of the word. And he had come to her this time. He was asking for this. "I don't know what Nessie overheard, or what she told you or showed you or whatever, but I can guess. So, fine, I'll talk to you about it. But it's a conversation we've had before and will continue to have over and over again for as long as it takes for one of us to break and give up on it. Can you handle that? Can you handle another re-hash of an age old argument? And can you handle it with me like _this_?" She hissed the last word at Jasper for emphasis.

He knew exactly what she meant by being like this. Emotional. "Yes, I can. And I promise you nothing but honesty." Jasper knew that he didn't need to clarify that honesty included emotional honesty as well. It was one of their unspoken rules during serious conversations like this one. He would let her feel everything, and not try to manipulate it, even if it hurt him to feel it with her. This was her chance to just feel.

Taking Jasper up on his offer, Rose forced all of her emotions to the surface and directed them all at his center. Anger, hurt, fear, defensiveness, fury, ire. She waited and watched as Jasper flinched and bit his lip as her emotions became more and more intense. She would be in big trouble with Alice later if her sister had seen this coming, but she didn't care. "Happy now, Jasper?" She growled at him. She was so raw at the moment, she knew that her brother wouldn't be able to answer her. "I'm angry and I'm hurt and not just because of Winston. Because of you. Because of Cassandra and Renesmee. They didn't deserve all of that. You could have dished it out to the rest of us all day, but when you dished it out to them, it crossed a line. Cassie especially didn't deserve it. She finally got a second chance at a happy life, and you ruined it! I supported you and Alice when you wanted to turn her because I thought that as young as she was, and as tragic as her short life had been so far, that it was her only chance at a happy life. Everyone deserves a happy life, and I trusted you and Alice to make sure that Cassie got one. Royce stole mine, and I can never get it back. But Cassie could. Things had finally started to calm down for us, and I thought for just an instant, that maybe it was all going to be ok. How wrong I was. We're truly monsters, giving innocent children a taste of the most tragic emotions. Sorrow, Jasper! Could you have possibly chosen a more damaging emotion to broadcast? You know what that does to me. If you had chosen anything else, I could have handled it much better. I shudder to think that my struggle was multiplied in the young mind of Cassie, ruining her second chance to be happy. I'm glad that you won, and all, if you can call it that, but what happens next time? You threw us under the bus! I can't handle that again, ever! And if I can't, then surely Cassie and Nessie can't. And before you say anything, I'm not the only one who feels this way. I know for a fact that the sorrow overload almost killed Esme, too. It's not fair, Jasper! Why should we have to suffer still?" By the time Rosalie finished her diatribe, Jasper had stopped breathing from the effort of handling her anger.

Finally, after a long, heavy silence, he took a small breath so that he could speak. His voice was quiet and soft, a vast contrast to the sharpness that Rose had used. "You're right. It's not fair. Not by a long shot. And if I had made a little more effort, I could have better discerned which emotions I was sending out, and made sure that only Alice and Peter received them, not you and not Nessie, I'll get to Cassie in a minute. I could have better controlled my broadcasting if I had just focused a little more, that is true. Unfortunately, I didn't have that kind of time, or that amount of energy. Winston wasn't just emotionally affecting me. He was alternating using Jane's and Kate's abilities to send me shockwaves of physical pain. I've never before thought that a vampire could pass out until I felt everything he was doing to me. All I could see was what Winston wanted me to see. When I started to allow the emotions to leak out, I thought that I was sending them all to Alice and Peter, but I couldn't see them, so I had to guess based on emotional footprints that they were the ones receiving the outpouring. I was apparently wrong, and I've been making apologies to the others for not having better control. But I owe you one of the biggest because, you're right. I do know what sorrow does to you, and if I could have forced a different outcome, I would have. But it was all I could do to stay focused on fighting Winston back, and not giving in to him completely. As for Cassie, I do still thank you for your support of me and Alice, and believe me when I say, I want nothing more than to give her a happy life. And I still will. I remind you that she has a mirror ability, Rose. I wanted to send her everything I could, knowing that she would simply reflect it outward and not feel any of it herself. I haven't talked to her yet, but if her ability worked right, then she didn't feel a thing. She didn't suffer a bit of emotional turmoil. It's not too late for her happy life. But I did talk to Nessie and she understands. She's recovered and she forgave me for what she felt during my broadcasting. I don't expect you to be able to do the same any time soon. I know it was worse for you. Emotions always are, and I understand that. But what you felt, Rose, was such a small portion of what he was doing to me. He threw everything at me all at once. He made me see things no one ever should. Things that were comparable to the newborn battles I led in Texas. I had to make a split second decision. I knew that if I didn't let something go, I would lose. So, I chose to let it go to Alice and Peter because I knew they could handle it. I hated it worse than anything, I hated hurting my love like that, but she would have rather me do that than lose. And Peter's my second, he expects it. That's when I thought about Cassie's mirror, so I expanded to include her, knowing she wouldn't get hurt. I'm so sorry that the rest of you were caught in the waves I didn't know I was broadcasting. I told Nessie that Winston likes to use a Vampire's ability against itself. He wanted to make me so emotional, I would crumble. And he almost succeeded. He never expected me to be able to break through enough to send any of it back to him. I had to decide if I should keep it all to myself and fight a longer, losing, battle or if I should seek help from my family and end the battle as quickly as I could. I hoped that I made my decision in time to give Alice enough warning that she could brace for it, and warn Peter. She would have stopped me if she had known I would be hurting everyone else too. But I asked her about it, and she said that she saw the decision, but not that everyone would be impacted by it, so don't hold anything against her. If something like this ever happens again, then we'll know better how to handle it. I'll know to take a little more time, so I can really focus on who I'm using to vent my pain to, Alice, and Peter if he's there. And anyone else who volunteers, but I promise that if possible, I will always leave you out of it. We didn't know what to expect this time. The Volturi were so careful to keep Alice and Edward out until it was too late to change anything. If there is a next time, we'll all be better prepared. And I hope that you'll forgive me for this time, but I know it was bad, and that will take time. And I also promise to leave Nessie out of it. If it would help you trust me again, then we can train, and practice. I'll take you and Alice and Nessie out to the woods, and try to focus on just sending to Alice and not you or Nessie. I'll do whatever it takes. And if it'll make you feel better, I'll even let you rip my arms off a few dozen times. I'm sorry I hurt you, Rose. You're my sister, I would never do that on purpose, and I hope that you can forgive and trust me again someday." Jasper finally finished his answers to Rosalie's anger. He could feel that she had calmed down almost entirely while he was talking.

Rosalie's voice was more civilized when she spoke again. "You're wrong about one thing. I think that Cassie did feel something. It's possible that her mirror distorted it, and you didn't realize it, but she did feel something. And it hurt her, so don't let her lie to you about it when you do talk to her. And I guess that you didn't do it on purpose, so ripping your arms off, while fun, isn't necessary. And, one more thing, this was never about trust."

"Isn't it? When it comes to you, isn't it always about trust? You mentioned Royce earlier. He didn't just steal your happy life, he stole your ability to trust. You hide it better than anyone else in the family, but I still feel the betrayal. And I'm the cause of it. I broke your trust that was so hard for us to earn in the first place. How could I be so careless as to let my emotional control break like that? How could I hurt the family who loves me so much like that? Why did I have to broadcast _all_ of it at once? It is about trust. How can you ever trust me again? I wouldn't blame you if you couldn't."

Rosalie was silent for a long moment before blinking and finally responding. "I'm sorry you had to feel that. Betrayal is the worst, not sorrow. I thought I kept it buried deep enough, but I guess I didn't. And you're right, I do have a lot of trust issues because of Royce, and that alone is what it always comes back to, how could it not? I don't think that I've ever let myself fully trust anyone. Maybe Emmett, but only sometimes. I always pull it back after I let it go. But it hurt me when you started broadcasting, it did feel like another betrayal. But part of me also knows that you had to, that you had to release some of the burden if you had any hope of defeating Winston. And that's the part of me that just wants to give you a giant hug, and tell you that you have nothing to apologize for, but I can't do that. It hurts too much to trust. I think you understand that after Maria. Out of everybody, surely, you understand. How can you trust again after her? I like the idea of training with you, but not for you to learn to avoid me. For me to learn to accept it when you're forced to broadcast. I want to trust again. And I want to start with Emmett. But after that, I want to make sure that I never feel betrayed by my family again, and if that means sitting there and letting you spit sorrow at me for 15 hours, then so be it. You know one of the reasons why I insisted on letting me and Emmett take the girls to Scandinavia with us was because I was feeling left out. You and Alice and Edward and Bella had been training so closely together and you were learning how to help each other when Winston attacked and I was starting to feel a little useless. You probably already know this, but I pretended not to care because I cared so much. I want to be able to help in the future. I hate myself for getting so mad at you, and I don't want to resort back to that again. So, help me."

Jasper didn't hesitate before pulling Rose into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, Rose. I missed everything. I had no idea you felt left out. We would have gladly welcomed you in training. I'm sorry, I didn't think to get you and Emmett involved in it. I guess I didn't do much in the way of working to earn your trust by not offering. I just didn't dig past your mask and you were helping with Nessie and Cassie and I assumed that was enough for you. I'm so sorry, Rose. I promise you, we will be working on this. On trust and betrayal and training. All of it. With the proper training, and once you open yourself to trusting, there's a lot you can help with. Just name the place and time when you're ready to start. Alice and Emmett can help too, if you want, but until you're more comfortable, we can leave everyone else out of it."

"Thank you, Jas," Rosalie whispered too quietly for human ears before pulling out of the hug. It was the point in a movie where everyone would be in tears, and part of her longed to be able to cry.

"I mean everything I say, and you're welcome. Now, there's just one more piece of business. Where is that husband of yours? I believe we had a little bet to settle."

Rose laughed and shook her head at the same instant that the object of Jasper's inquiry entered the garage. "And what bet would that be, dear brother?" Emmett called out, feigning innocence.

"Oh, you know what bet." Jasper drawled in a deep southern accent. "I seem to remember something about you spending no more than two months in Europe…"

"Hey, that's not fair! We were only two hours later leaving than the time we arrived, and it was out of our control. The plane had a mechanical failure during preflight checks. Besides, I thought we agreed to forget about that bet when it was clear Winston was delaying his attack."

"You shouldn't have cut it so close. Two hours is still two hours. And when have you ever known me to back out on a bet?"

"Alright, alright. Two hours late, and the guy goes nuts. Do you believe this?" He turned to Rose for sympathy, but only received an exasperated eye roll in return.

Jasper laughed at Emmett's attempt to feel angry. "You know better than to even try. It was a fair bet. Besides, your punishment isn't that bad. All you have to do is finance mine and Alice's next trip to Europe."

"Yeah, you two do need a getaway. But just to clarify, when you say finance, that's just plane tickets and hotel room, right? Her shopping trips still go on her credit card, right?" Jasper made an innocent face, but didn't say anything. "Right?"

"How about a shopping budget financed by you? Everything beyond that can go on her card."

"Fair enough," Emmett grumbled, calculating how much he could afford to give Alice for her shopping budget.

"Oh, and you will be springing for the top line suite with a Jacuzzi and everything and first class tickets." Jasper smirked as he talked.

"Shut up." Emmett teasingly called as he watched Jasper leave the garage.

"Em, can I talk to you about something before we go out? It's important." Rose's uncertain voice echoed in the garage as Jasper made his way back into the main house.

"Sure, Rosie, you can always talk to me about anything," Emmett reassured her. That was the last Jasper heard before bumping into Cassie in the kitchen.

"Just the girl I was looking for," Jasper offered his pseudo daughter a small smile. "Alice thinks we should talk. And so does Rosalie."

"There seems to be a lot of that going on tonight," Cassie mumbled as she took a seat at the kitchen bar and started to play with an apple from the basket of fresh fruit that always set on the counter.

"Well, when you live forever, and big things happen, it's usually best to deal with them right away. I told you that very early on in your newborn training. Remember, we don't let things simmer for too long, we talk them out before they have a chance to get a foothold."

"You mean like Rose's trust issue?"

"That was a private conversation. You weren't supposed to be listening in on it. That's pure manners you should have learned as a human. And since this isn't the first time you've eavesdropped on a personal conversation, I'm thinking I may need to add a manners class to your training."

"No, you don't have to. I know better than to listen in, and that's why I tuned the conversation right back out. I only heard a few words. Enough to know that neither of you would like it if I kept listening. I promise, I didn't really hear anything else. Just Rose admitting that she's never trusted any of you. Not even Emmett."

"Do me a favor, and never repeat that. I wish I could tell you to forget hearing it, but I know you can't, so just don't repeat it, ok?"

"Ok, I won't, I promise. So, my turn, now. This was a big thing that happened with Winston. But I don't really have anything lingering or stewing that I need to talk through. This was so much less intense than living out of a hospital. Most of my human memories are rapidly fading. But that, life in a hospital, that will never fade, not completely. This Winston thing was nothing compared to that, so I don't really need to talk about it or work through it or whatever. It happened, but now it's over. So, can we get back to my regular training now? Emmett worked with me on my focus some while we were gone, and I think I have a pretty good handle on it now, and want to try learning to fight."

"Not so fast, Cassie. You may not feel the need to talk about this, but I do. I'm going to ask you a single question, and I need an honest answer. I did something during my battle with Winston that's almost unforgivable, and I'll never forgive myself for it if I find out you're lying to me when you answer this question. During the battle, I started to broadcast the emotions that Winston was forcing me to feel. I honestly didn't mean to do it. And it's killing me that I let the rest of the family feel that pain. It'll take some time, but I'll get over it eventually. It was what had to be done for me to win. But worse than the uncontrollable broadcasting, I actually purposefully vented a huge chunk of those emotions directly to you. My thinking at the time was that your mirror would keep you from actually feeling any of it, and that it would simply be reflected harmlessly away from you. I started slowly, and monitored you, or at least I thought I was, and it seemed to be working, so I kept going. Your mirror was supposed to protect you. But my judgment was compromised and I was obviously not thinking correctly, and I reacted hastily and harshly, without really thinking about it. Cassie, I need to know if you felt anything. Please, tell me the truth here. Even if it was just for a second, I need to know. Did you feel my pain? Did I hurt you?" Jasper's voice was desperate and for a second, there was pure silence as he watched the changes Cassie's expression for any hints of what she was thinking. But all he had were her emotions, and they were worried and concerned.

"The truth? Ok, fine, I felt it. But only for about three or four seconds, and then my mirror must have kicked in, and I was ok. Do I hold it against you? Absolutely not. Like you said, it was what had to be done. And my mirror did protect me from the worst of it. It was just a few seconds, and then it was over, nothing I couldn't handle, and honestly, nothing I haven't felt before. I'm ok with it, really, and I would do it again. I would beg you to use me if it would help you. With a little more practice, I may even be able to get my mirror to the point where I wouldn't feel it for a second."

"Oh, crud, Cassie, I'm so sorry, so, so very sorry. I should never have…" Jasper's voice broke and he could only shake his head. "I'm supposed to keep you safe," he choked out in barely more than a whisper.

"And you have. I told you, I'm fine. I don't hold a grudge or anything against you. I couldn't. You kept us all safe from the Volturi and Winston. How could I begrudge that? I may be really young, a kid even, but there's a lot that dying so young taught me. Only worry about the big picture, and treasure every moment. Pick your battles and know what hills not to die on. There are some things more important than others, and those three seconds of pain, that's not important. You winning, that's what's important. If you need me to say it, then I will, you have my forgiveness and I still love you and trust you. You are still my Vampire Angel Brother, my immortal father, whichever one you prefer. It's just a title; the role is the same regardless. Can we go upstairs now? I want to play Uno."

Jasper didn't hesitate as he wrapped both arms around the young girl in tight hug. "Thank you. I did need to hear you say that. And I can feel you are being honest with me. And we are going to work on controlling your mirror because I never, ever, ever want to hurt you like that again. Even if it was just a few seconds, it was a few seconds too long. But for tonight, yes, we can go play Uno. But remember, Alice cheats, so try to keep your thoughts off your cards and be spontaneous with your choices. Don't plan ahead."

"I'll remember that." Knowing that Jasper still needed the contact, Cassie took his hand like any human little girl taking her father's hand, and let him lead the way up the stairs to his and Alice's room.

"Hey, you two. I saw you getting here three minutes ago, what happened?" Alice asked with a huge smile when the rest of her small family entered the room. She had sent Bella and Edward away four minutes ago when she saw Cassie demanding to play Uno with her and Jasper.

"I decided to listen to Rose," Jasper explained, hoping that Alice would understand.

"Oh." Alice's simple exclamation was enough to let him know that she did understand. "And?"

"And, she was right. But I'm ok. You'll be the first to know if I'm not, I promise."

"I forgive you too. For her."

"How did you…? Right. I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Interpretation," Cassie announced, interrupting the cryptic back and forth between the couple. "Rose said that I felt Jasper's broadcasting, and he was undecided on rather or not he wanted to ask me about it. When he did ask me about it, it put us three minutes behind getting up here to play Uno. Rose turned out to be right about me feeling it, but I forgave Jasper, so he doesn't feel quite so guilty about it, at least not right now, but the emotions may resurface later on, but he promises to deal with them when they do. And you forgave him for hurting me because you saw or just know that he's feeling so guilty about it, and he's almost afraid that you won't like him very much or be angry with him for it. So, you jumped the gun, and let him know it's ok, that you don't hold anything against him because of me. Am I close?"

Jasper's jaw dropped as he listened to Cassie talk. "When did she get so smart?" He asked Alice. "When did you get so smart?" He changed the question and directed it at Cassie.

"I told you, I may be a kid, but dying has its advantages when it comes to the whole mental emotional development thing."

The three shared a laugh, and Alice couldn't stop the grin as she spoke. "So, I guess it really is back to normal now."

Jasper grinned too as he answered. "Almost. We're vampires. There's never anything normal about that. But this is as normal as it gets."

Cassie smiled as she added her thoughts. "We aren't just vampires. We're Vampire Angels."

Alice laughed again. "Right. Vampire Angels."

Jasper whispered his agreement. "Vampire Angels. I'm starting to like that."

The three played Uno for the next hour, spending as much quality time together as they could. Throughout the Cullen house, they could hear the rest of the family in similar moments of togetherness. Esme and Carlisle were in their room, whispering sweet nothings to each other. Rose and Emmett were still in the garage, her face buried in his shoulder as close to tears as she could get. For the first time, she was fully trusting him with her soul, and this time, she wouldn't take it back. Bella and Edward had taken Nessie back to their cottage and were watching her sleep. They could all hear the soft patter of wolf paws, and knew that Jacob was close by, keeping watch over his imprint as well. It was then that Alice understood vampire or Vampire Angel, it didn't matter what they called themselves. What did matter was they were family, and she was part of that family, a family who loved each other and protected each other. Semantics aside, family was the heart of what everyone longed for, and regardless of the family's species title, the feeling, the meaning, of family was what mattered. She supposed that this realization alone was what made her a Vampire Angel because only an angel, and never a monster, would know the difference between names and titles and feelings and meanings. "This is my Vampire Angel family." She whispered the words to no one and to everyone. "My Vampire Angel family." She would repeat it until the whole world heard it and believed it. "My Vampire Angel family."


End file.
